THORANT HARDWARE, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Housing, has dismissed as "unfounded", claims by Audley Shaw, Opposition Spokesman on Finance, that documents crucial to the investigation of the operations of the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC), were removed from the Ministry on Sunday night.
Mr. Shaw had claimed that the documents were removed shortly after Prime Minister P.J. Patterson announced the setting up of an investigative commission to probe the NHDC's activities, specifically its management of the Operation PRIDE projects which have been plagued with huge cost overruns and allegations of fraud involving some contractors.
His claims that several boxes of documents were removed on Sunday were, however, denied by Mr. Hardware.
According to him, investigations carried out by the Ministry revealed that no NHDC documents were removed. He said that on Sunday, the driver and a security officer for Water and Housing Minister Dr. Karl Blythe who is at the centre of the NHDC controversy, went to the Ministry to collect the Minister's Cabinet papers for Monday's Cabinet meeting.
The arrival and departure of the two men was reportedly captured on surveillance camera monitored by Dirks Security. He said the Minister is not listed as entering the building on the day in question.
