Opposition spokesman on finance, Audley Shaw, yesterday demanded that the finance minister tell Parliament whether a multi-million dollar contract to provide fixtures and equipment for the new Whitehouse hotel in Westmoreland was put to competitive tender and whether the contractor is a brother of a senior minister of the Government.

“What the minister needs to assure this honourable House, is that that contract has been received by competitive tender, and that he (the contractor) is not using his privileged position as a brother of a senior minister of government, in this case a minister very, very closely connected to the overall industry,” Shaw said.

“It does not look good,” Shaw added, “and we need to get explanations for these things, because corruption is a problem and we must have things done in the country in such a way that there is absolute transparency and that there is not the appearance that because you are in a privileged position your are getting a primary path to certain privileged contracts.”

The Opposition spokesman was speaking in the debate in the House of Representatives on a resolution moved by junior finance minister Fitz Jackson, that Government guarantee a US$25-million industrial and tourism line of credit facility between the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Shaw demand that, “the minister of finance, if he cannot answer me today, must bring a report to Parliament as to which company it is in Florida that is supplying all of these goods to that hotel, which is being financed by we the people of Jamaica, and we must know the circumstances under which the present contractor has received that contract”.

Minister of finance and planning, Dr Omar Davies, who was present in the House at the time, did not respond. Neither did Jackson when he closed the debate immediately after Shaw spoke.

Shaw said that it would be very helpful to the House if the minister cleared up, “what appears to be a situation in which, although there is a primary contractor, there are other sub-contractors who are benefitting in a substantial way”.

He said that the basic questions were whether the contract had gone through a process of competitive tendering and whether the country was receiving value for money in respect of the sub-contracts related to the project.

The Opposition spokesman contended that it was a reasonable question, “because the Government is spending about $65 million, which is 95 per cent to 98 per cent of the cost of the project, and today we are being called upon to guarantee loans in respect of the project.”

He noted that US$15 million of the US$25-million government guaranteed loan would go to the Whitehouse hotel, which is being built by Sandals. The 360-room hotel is currently being furnished.

He charged that there were other examples of corruption in relation to the hotel project and that he was prepared to provide the information to the minister to do his own due diligence.

“I can’t do your work for you, but I can certainly say to the minister that it does not look good,” Shaw said. “It cannot look good for the major sub-contractor who supplies all the equipment and fixtures for this new hotel, running into millions and millions of United States dollars, for that sub-contractor to be a brother of a senior minister of this Government.

It doesn’t look good,” Shaw insisted.

The resolution was passed by the House.