Contractor General Greg Christie has issued a stinging response to yesterday's threats of legal action against him levelled by former chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Dr. Vin Lawrence.

Dr. Lawrence had claimed during Tuesday's sitting of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that his reputation was damaged in the Contractor General's 73-page report on the Sandals Whitehouse hotel project, submitted to Parliament in July.

Unperturbed

In a release yesterday, Mr. Christie said he was unperturbed by the statements made by Dr. Lawrence during the PAC meeting which had been scheduled to continue an examination of the US$43 million cost overrun on the controversial Sandals Whitehouse project.

Dr. Lawrence had dismissed charges that Jentech Consultants Limited, an engineering consultancy firm of which he is a founding partner, obtained contracts through questionable circumstances. He said it was not the UDC that initially hired Jentech, but Gorstew, the Sandals holding company in 1992.

Lacking in merit

However, Mr. Christie said the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) will not be intimidated by Dr. Lawrence's comments, adding that his statements and threats were "baseless, lacking in merit, and are devoid of any credible or sustainable foundation."

The OCG, Christie contended, "stands firmly and unconditionally behind those of its findings and conclusions which are set out in its Report of Investigations into the Sandals Whitehouse Hotel project, specifically as they relate to the UDC's conditional engagement of Jentech Consultants Ltd. on the Sandals Whitehouse project."

The Contractor General said he was confident of the "veracity and credibility" of his findings into the project, and made it clear that his office was ready to defend its stated positions.