Edmond Campbell, News Coordinator

Former health Minister and attorney-at-law John Junor has defended a company, whose contract was terminated by the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA), under his watch in 2005.

The company, Island Woods and Development Limited, had its six-month contract to renovate the Post-Natal Unit of the Mandeville Hospital halted in April 2005.

The decision was challenged by the company, which led to a $2.8 million settlement this year between Island Woods and the Ministry of Health.

Mr. Junor, a government backbencher and top-flight attorney of law firm Knight, Junor and Samuels, was retained to recover money that the company claimed was due to it.

But questions of ethical issues now arise, as Mr. Junor was the man at the helm of the ministry in 2004 when the contract was endorsed, and it was under his watch that the contract was terminated in 2005.

Arrived at agreement

Island Woods and Development had threatened legal action against the SRHA and the Ministry of Health, but the parties later arrived at an agreement whereby the ministry paid $2,814,827.54 in full and final settlement to the company.

The Sunday Gleaner tried to contact Mr. Junor for a comment but was informed that he was off the island. However, his colleague, K.D. Knight, commented on the issue.

He argued that in making the determination about representation Mr. Junor had to consider "whether or not he was a party to the award of the contract; whether or not he was a party to the termination of the contract (and), whether or not there is a sum that is properly due to the company."

'No ethical concern'

Mr. Knight said there could be no ethical concerns, adding that there was an amount that was properly due to head of Island Woods and Development, Michael Ranger, "and that is the amount Mr. Ranger collected. Then there can be no issue of undue influence".

Mr. Ranger, in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner, said that although he was not "fully satisfied" with the settlement, he had decided to bring closure to the dispute, even though it meant settling at a loss.

Island Woods and Develop-ment claimed that it had completed about 95 per cent of the job, while the Ministry of Health said that the evidence on hand in April 2005 demonstrated that approximately 81 per cent of the project was complete.

The contractor said initially, he had hired another attorney in an attempt to recover money due to him under the terms of the agreement. However, he said his company did not make a breakthrough until he retained Mr. Junor. "That's the only way I could have gotten my money," he said, stressing that with the previous attorney "nothing came of it."

"In the long and short, I ended up losing," said Ranger, arguing that it took two years to reach a settlement which amounted to $4.4 million, representing the $2.8 million and another $1.6 million collected before the termination of the contract.

The 2005 annual report of the Office of the Contractor General stated that the contract had experienced significant time overruns before the services of Island Woods and Development were discontinued in April 2005.

The report further stated that the work progressed satisfactorily at first but steadily lost ground due to the contractor's failure to provide the requisite resources for the work.

But in his defence, Mr. Ranger contended that the delays were caused by the nominated contractors, hired by the SRHA. He said his company had written to the project manager, indicating that their (sub-contractors) "tardiness in completing the work was putting the company in a bind."