Dionne Rose, Parliamentary Reporter

Tempers flared at Parlia-ment's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday with Opposition member Audley Shaw accusing Government member John Junor of trying to "cover up the truth."

Mr. Junor in turn claimed Mr. Shaw wanted to "politicise" the deliberations on the cost overruns on the controversial Sandals Whitehouse project.

The exchange began shortly after Opposition member Clive Mullings accused former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson of misleading Parliament on the reason for hiring Ashtrom Building Systems Limited to work on the Sandals Whitehouse project.

According to Mr. Mullings, Parliament was misled as it relates to the circumstances in which Ashtrom was given the contract job on the project over another company.

Mr. Mullings said there was no competitive tender and the reason given was not true. He also recommended an enquiry into whether the selection of Ashtrom was unbiased, and to determine whether any overriding interests were present.

Premature conclusions

But Mr. Junor rejected this, saying the committee was arriving at premature conclusions. He pointed out that Caribbean Construction Company has an interest to serve in this matter, and that the Masterbuilders Association should be consulted on the matter as they would be able to say what was the last contract that Caribbean Construction Company did before the matter came up.

"... Because that is an indication whether they were scaling down or not. So I am not prepared, as member Mullings did, to jump to a conclusion that the statements made by the chairman of the UDC are false," he said.

Mr. Shaw then accused Mr. Junor of trying to cover up the truth. "All of the truth is going to come out! All of it! And you are not going to block it from coming out!" he said.

But Mr. Junor said Mr. Shaw was trying to politicise the issue. "You have a history of doing this kind of thing. That is why you are sitting where you are now because of your insistence on politicising it!"

Mr. Shaw, who usually chairs the PAC, temporarily stepped away from the post after being criticised for stating at a political meeting that the Opposition would "pepper" Dr. Vin Lawrence, former chairman of the UDC, with questions when he appeared before the committee.