Amid Opposition calls for her resignation, Petroleum Company of Jamaica (PETCOM) chairperson, Barbara Clarke, has rebutted allegations by the Contractor General that she may have used her position to award almost $5 million in contracts to her private company, Elegant Traders Ltd.

In a statement to the media and a letter from her lawyers to Contractor General Greg Christie, Mrs. Clarke demanded yesterday that he change his report under threat of litigation. She challenged him to produce factual evidence that she benefited from undue influence or conflict of interest.

Lawyers instructed

"The reluctance of the Contractor General to correct obvious errors and to withdraw unjustified inferences which have been reported in the media makes it necessary for me to instruct my lawyers to take whatever action is necessary to clear my name and preserve my integrity," said Mrs. Clarke.

She insisted her company had held contracts with the state-owned PETCOM since 1998 and that this was disclosed at the first board meeting after she became chairperson. She said that all her contracts were originally awarded by tender.

She added that she had 'withdrawn from business interests' with PETCOM prior to the investigation by the Contractor General which was presented in Parliament on Monday.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) had demanded that she resign immediately.

"No further case needs to be made. The Prime Minister must secure Ms. Clarke's immediate resignation or, otherwise, revoke her appointment," said the JLP.

Yesterday, PETCOM's General Manager Desmond Thomas said he regretted that the Contractor General "has adopted a belligerent approach despite PETCOM's invitation to revisit its offices to satisfy the OCG that the company is adhering to the Government's Procurement Procedure Handbook."