... (NIBJ) pays $26.5m for legal services in breach of guidelines
July 24, 2007
Another attorney-at-law has received a controversial multimillion-dollar contract from a state agency in contravention of the Government's procurement guidelines and, once again, it cannot be determined whether the country got value for money.
However, had it not been for the intervention of the Office of the Contractor General, the payout could have cost the country $4 million more.
Before attorney-at-law Minett Palmer received payments totalling approximately $28.2 million for legal services rendered to the Universal Access Fund Company Ltd., the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ), prior to its merger with the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) in September 2006, solicited the legal services of Calvin Rose for an estimated $26.5 million.
Mr. Rose was hired to transfer non-operating lands owned by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to the Commissioner of Lands and other government agencies. While Access to Information (ATI) documents showed that Ms. Palmer received her multimillion-dollar payout in instalments over a 19-month period beginning in June 2005, The Gleaner understands that Mr. Rose was engaged by the NIBJ in the latter part of 2004 and the contract is expected to end some time next year.
The issue was first raised by Contractor General, Greg Christie in the 19th Annual Report of the Contractor General. In that report, Mr. Christie disclosed that the NIBJ did not supply his office "with the details of its uncompetitive process for the engagement of legal services".
In his latest Annual Report, which covers January to December 2006, the Contractor-General published the executive summary of an investigation conducted into the matter. It revealed that the NIBJ employed the Sole Source method of procurement for the engagement of Mr. Rose.
In a recent interview, Mr. Christie said a copy of the full report was sent to the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies on July 21, 2006.
Mr. Christie said Dr. Davies, who has portfolio responsibility for the institution, responded promptly. Dr. Davies wrote to him again on August 8, 2006 telling him that the NIBJ had taken the requisite steps to comply with the recommendations in the report. Efforts to get a comment from the Finance Minister proved futile. However, Mr. Christie told The Gleaner that "nobody can say" if the country got "value for money". He explained that all the established procedures, which seek to ensure independent scrutiny and value for money, were not complied with in this specific contract award....
Author: Tyrone Reid
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
