Danville Walker said Sunday night that fraudulent attempts were being made to access hurricane relief and vowed that he would not let the distribution process descend into a scandal.

In fact, according to Walker, he is now reviewing a list of 150,000 housing claims after a sample revealed that more than 70 per cent, amounting to $80 million, were false.

“You may hear that the benefits are taking a long time, but Anansi get into it, and we have to get Anansi back out,” he said, referring to the folklore character known for chicanery. “I have no intention of making this hurricane benefit become a scandal,” said Walker in his guest address at the Northern Caribbean University staff awards banquet in Mandeville.

Walker, who gained national respect for cleaning up Jamaica’s electoral system, was seconded to Office of National Reconstruction (ONR) by Prime Minister Patterson two months ago to co-ordinate the reconstruction effort after Hurricane Ivan slammed into sections of the island over the September 11-12 weekend, leaving an estimated J$35.9 billion in damage.

The ONR was set up by Patterson in response to the hurricane’s devastating effect on the island.

Yesterday, the ONR told the Observer that the Ministry of Labour, through its parish branches, inspects homes for claims.

“I know Jamaican people, they are not going to make a free benefit go by. What I am angry about are those who are managing it,” said Walker of the relief distribution programme.

Walker said that the move to review the claims was initially met with resistance.

“There was a huge cry of ‘no, we cannot do that because we do not have the time and there will be roadblocks’,” he said. “But when it reached 150,000 I said ‘I am going back into the field’, and they said ‘go, go’.”

He said that of the first 10,000 homes that were supposed to have been completely destroyed, less than 3,000 were wrecked.

“And when we reached 20,000 claims we had saved $80 million from people whose homes were supposed to have been completely destroyed, but which, when we checked, turned out that not a thing wrong with them,” he said.

Walker added that politicians have been nagging the ONR to disburse funds to their constituents. “But as a manager, what is important is that the benefits get to the people who need them,” he said.

Walker told the estimated 500 guests at the function that claimants will only get benefits if they can verify the damage.

Payments to the hurricane victims will range from $5,000 for houses which received minor damage to $20,000 for houses that were completely destroyed.

The ONR will need $6.5 billion to carry out the specific restoration projects assigned to the agency. These include repairs to roads, some 800 schools, public buildings including police stations, libraries and post offices.

Approval has also been given by the Cabinet to relocate those persons whose homes were destroyed by storm surge. The communities targeted include Portland Cottage and Rocky Point in Clarendon, and Old Harbour Bay in St Catherine.