OCG probes PNP scandal
Tuesday, September 06, 2016
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Dejected PNP supporters watching the election results on a big screen at the party headquarters last night.
THE Office of the Contractor General (OCG) is now investigating the campaign money scandal rocking the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP), the party confirmed last night.
The OCG started the probe after allegations surfaced last week that Chinese firms operating in Jamaica were asked to pay an agent’s fee.
A release from the PNP said the party has since asked its Integrity Commission to suspend plans to start its probe into the scandal in light of the investigation by the OCG.
“The party will also be making no further comment on this particular matter,” the release said.
Portia weighs in on PNP campaign money scandal PNP Treasurer Norman Horne, in a report to the July meeting of the party’s National Executive Council (NEC), alleged that money collected to fund the party’s February 25, 2016 General Election campaign was not turned over to the party’s treasury but was instead kept by senior members.
The report was leaked to the media in August, further dividing the party which had entered the election bruised from a number of constituency challenges. The organisation suffered a further setback when it was handed a shock one-seat defeat by the Jamaica Labour Party at the polls. Since then, there have been calls for renewal, including for a change of leadership at the top.
Last week, the PNP suffered its biggest fallout when former Transport and Works Minister Dr Omar Davies called on General Secretary Paul Burke to come forward with information on the alleged missing money, especially relating to the payment of an agent’s fee, the matter to which the OCG will be giving its attention.
Dr Davies, in a letter to Burke calling on him to clarify the matter, said: “I have the right to make this demand of you as my own integrity is being questioned as a result of your unsubstantiated utterances.”
Dr Davies said that several Comrades had reported to him that at a meeting of the NEC held a few months ago, Burke stated that the party’s efforts in the general election were hampered by inadequate financing, as some senior members had not passed on funds from donors to the central treasury.
“I was informed that you went on to state explicitly that you had learnt that it is an established practice for large Chinese firms to pay an ‘agent’s fee’, ranging from one per cent to 1.5 per cent of the total project cost. You claimed that it was customary that the ‘agent’ would be named by the minister with portfolio responsibility for the relevant sector.”
Davies said that while Burke gave no names, “many persons left the meeting with the clear impression that, within the construct which you had outlined, I was the minister who had recommended the agent to the Chinese firm”.
Said Davis: “Against that background, I wish to make the following definitive and unambiguous statements:
“(1) I have never been approached by any firm, Chinese, or otherwise, with respect to an ‘agent’s fee’ (or any payment of that nature), nor to recommend anyone to act as their agent on any construction project.
“(2) Consequent on (1), I have never recommended anyone, or any firm, to fill any agency position.
“(3) Consistent with (1) and (2), I have no knowledge of any fees or other payment which should have been turned over to the party’s treasury.
“(4) I have not collected any contribution, either for my own constituency campaign, or for the PNP’s national campaign, from any Chinese company, construction or otherwise.”
Dr Davies also told Burke that it was “reckless and unacceptable” that charges as serious and grievous as those that he has made “have been advanced without any supporting evidence”.
Davies’ St Andrew Southern constituency last Thursday told Burke to apologise to Davies, but the general secretary has since said he had no comment on the matter.
If the PNP Integrity Commission goes ahead with its investigation after the OCG probe, it will have to be given an extension of the October 3, 2016 deadline given by the party president for its preliminary report.
The Integrity Commission, established in 2010, is chaired by Bishop Wellesley Blair and includes Daisy Coke, Burchell Whiteman, Cedric McCulloch, and Fred Hamaty.
The party said the commission would be free to draft additional expertise, as required, to complete its investigation.