LAWRENCE

Dr. Vin Lawrence, the former head of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), has accused Contractor General Greg Christie of damaging his reputation.

Yesterday Dr. Lawrence threatened to take legal action in response to allegations contained in the 73-page report to Parliament on the controversial Sandals Whitehouse hotel project.

He told Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that allegations that Jentech, an engineering consultancy firm of which he is a founding partner, gained contracts through an unfair selection process involving the UDC, were untrue.

He said it was not the UDC that initially hired Jentech, but GorStew, the Sandals holding company that had employed Jentech as far back as 1992.

"The false and defamatory allegations made by the Contractor General, on which he has based his assertion of a conflict of interest on the part of myself and on the part of the UDC in general, has been widely accepted as the truth in the media (and) has occasioned damage to my reputation," Dr. Lawrence argued during his more than half hour long opening remarks.

The former UDC head, who resigned from all state boards shortly after the publication of the Contractor General's report, was making his first appearance before the PAC which had requested he appear to answer questions on his role in the project that was wracked by more than US$43 million in cost overruns.

Conflict of interest

The report had stated that Jentech was selected unfairly to carry out engineering and structural designs for the hotel. It also said the selection of the engineering consultants created a conflict of interest on the part of both Dr. Lawrence and the UDC, and that there was a lack of transparency.

However, Dr. Lawrence yesterday claimed the Contractor General's knowledge of current procurement guidelines was poor and that Mr. Christie overlooked several facts including instances where the procurement guidelines allowed for direct contracting by negotiation.

"I have given public service with integrity for over 30 years, and I do not propose to have my reputation tarnished at this stage," Dr. Lawrence told the committee. He said that, as the remedy for anyone so injured was normally through the court, he had been in consultation with his attorneys to determine what action to take.

"I would expect that natural justice should require that... the protection of the Act (Contactor General's Act) only applies where the allegations are fair and accurate," he said.

Claudia Williams, communications officer at the Office of the Contractor General (OCG), said yesterday afternoon that Mr. Christie would not be commenting until he was given a chance to review the statements made by Dr. Lawrence. "However, to the extent that questions have been raised, the OCG firmly stands by its report that was tabled in Parliament on July 18 an and that report basically speaks for itself."