Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
THE OFFICE of the Contractor General has concluded the
special investigations which were commissioned by Prime Minister Simpson Miller last year, into the procurement procedures of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), the Portmore Municipality,
the Sports Development
Fund (SDF) and the Social Development Commission (SDC).
Greg Christie, Contractor General, has advised the Auditor General to carry out further investigations into one of the four agencies.
"A copy of one of the reports has also been forwarded to the Auditor General, Mr. Adrian Strachan, with a recommendation for certain actions to be taken by the Auditor General's Department," Mr. Christie stated in a release.
PROCUREMENT VIOLATIONS
Mrs. Simpson Miller ordered the investigations while she was minister of the then Ministry of Local Government, Sports and Community Development. The commission came shortly after investigations into the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) revealed gross procurement violations at the state agency.
A Gleaner source revealed yesterday that Mr. Christie had also unearthed blatant breaches of procurement procedures at
the agencies.
The highly-placed source also said the Contractor General had uncovered evidence that strongly suggested that the procurement procedures for contracts under $4 million in value, which make up the bulk of the
agencies' contracts, are overwhelmed with violations of
disturbing and prevalent
proportions.
Recently Mr. Christie announced that contracts in the under-$4 million category were slipping through the cracks, as they were escaping independent scrutiny.
CORRUPTION
He said the problem with contracts under $4 million in value appeared "to be pervasive and has raised the real spectre of a breeding ground for corruption in the public sector procurement process."
He added that it was his
considered opinion that to continue to ignore these contracts
"would be nothing short of
irresponsible."
The reports from these latest investigations were handed over to the relevant individuals on April 25. In a statement yesterday, Mr. Christie revealed that the reports for the SDC and the SDF were submitted to the Prime Minister, while the reports for the KSAC and the Portmore Municipality were submitted to Dean Peart, Minister of Local Government and Environment.
Copies of the four investigative reports were also forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate with a request for them to be laid before Parliament.
