Gov't welcomes OCG probe but hotel sale going ahead

Thursday, January 27, 2011

GOVERNMENT is going ahead with plans to sell its 60 per cent share of the Sandals Whitehouse Hotel in Westmoreland to Gorstew Limited, but welcomed the contractor general's insistence that he wants to investigate the sale.

"Nothing has come to me that the Government has had any change of heart in terms of the sale of Sandals Whitehouse," Information Minister Daryl Vaz told journalists at yesterday's post-Cabinet press briefing held at Jamaica House in Kingston.

According to Vaz, the Government would continue to await the outcome of the probe by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG), and if Prime Minister Bruce Golding deemed it necessary he would make a statement in due course.

Golding earlier said the sale was good for Jamaica, pointing out that it would rid the Government of a debt that was hanging around the necks of Jamaican taxpayers.

Vaz told the journalists that the Government had furnished Contractor General Greg Christie with the requisite information based on his letter to the prime minister last week. But despite this Christie had indicated that he was moving full speed ahead with the investigations, which Vaz conceded was his right and duty.

He, however, described Christie's insistence that the divestment be halted as unfortunate.

The OCG recommended, in a 22-page letter to Prime Minister Bruce Golding, that he halt the sale of the property and restart the divestment process under the supervision of his office, saying he had concerns about the sale.

Yesterday, Vaz had concerns of his own, about the approach being used by the OCG in the investigation of some government-related issues, noting that this had become a deterrent for persons who were asked to serve the country.

"... They are becoming less willing to serve because their names are brought into the middle of disagreements between the Government and how it proceeds on certain sales," Vaz said.

In reference to R Danny Williams who has been facilitating the negotiations for the sale of the Sandals Whitehouse property, Vaz said, "The contractor general has a right to do what he is mandated to do, but once again in this case where the Honourable R Danny Williams has served so well, both in the private sector and public sector, that is definitely an unpleasant situation".

Vaz said it was often difficult to undo what appeared in the public domain even when documentation and evidence were presented.

"We are tending to remember what transpired and how it transpired rather than what was the actual results and facts," he argued.

Yesterday, Christie fired back at Vaz, reminding him that the OCG was an independent anti-corruption commission of the Parliament of Jamaica, expressly authorised by law to conduct investigations into the award of government contracts.

In a release issued to the media, Christie declared that it was unlawful for a contractor general, in the exercise of his powers under the Contractor General Act, to be subjected to the dictates, direction or control of any person or authority.

"If the minister does not like how the OCG approaches its investigations, or who the OCG investigates, he should simply change the law or take the requisite steps to immediately disband the commission of the contractor general," Christie suggested.

"It should also be made clear to the minister that as far as the OCG is concerned, in Jamaica no one is above the law," he said.

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Gov't welcomes OCG probe but hotel sale going ahead