Edmond Campbell, Senior News Coordinator
Gallimore (left) and Davies (right)
A furore erupted in Parliament on Tuesday when Member of Parliament for west rural St. Andrew, Andrew Gallimore, accused the Government of disregarding the results of tests done by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) on cement imported by Mainland International in 2004.
Mr. Gallimore claimed the Government acted on the results of another test carried out by Jentech, owned by Dr. Vin Lawrence, former chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC).
Mr. Gallimore said Mainland International was forced to pay approximately $100 million in duty after tests conducted by Jentech and an overseas company showed that the cement was not blended. He said blended cement attracts no duty.
He said the Bureau of Standards, the agency with responsibility for conducting tests on cement imported into the island, examined the product and declared it was blended.
Mr. Gallimore was making his contribution on Tuesday to
a stormy six-hour debate on a
censure motion seeking to force Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Phillip Paulwell to resign for gross dereliction of duty.
Provisional release
His charges came against the background of a letter he claimed Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL) wrote to Jamaica Customs seeking to influence the agency's decision on whether to apply duty to the cement that was imported by Mainland.
He said that, in a letter dated April 26, 2004, to then Acting Commissioner of Customs, Hector Jones, the BSJ stated: "A provisional release was issued to Jamaica Customs for consignment of blended cement for Mainland International on April 13, 2004, based on satisfactory results of physical and chemical tests. These tests conclude that the product is blended cement. However, label verification checks were done and rehabilitation of the label is required to indicate that it is not ordinary Portland cement but blended cement."
Mr. Gallimore contended that, after the BSJ's tests were done and a letter issued to Customs for release of the cement, Permanent Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, Dr. Jean Dixon, gave instructions that the cement be tested by Jentech. He argued that Jentech was a company that had not been certified or accredited to test blended cement.
Mr. Gallimore insisted that the Government used its influence to protect, market and collect about $100 million in revenue.
Point of order
In a quick response, Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance and Planning, rose on a point of order during the debate amid shouts of disapproval from the Opposition. He accused Mr. Gallimore of misleading the House.
Dismissing the argument that BSJ had the capability to test blended cement, Dr. Davies quoted from an appendix to a document presented earlier in the censure debate by Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw. Dr. Davies said the BSJ's purported attachment to Minister Paulwell contained the following:
"The bureau tested the cement using the standard test methods for ordinary Portland cement because it is the only recourse that is available since there are no approved standard and test methods for blended hydraulic cement."
The motion in the debate was defeated with 29 government members against, 17 opposition members for. Thirteen MPs were absent.
