THE damning reports on the operations of the National Solid Waste Management Authority were yesterday turned over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the police.

The reports done by the contractor-general and Auditor General, pointed to gross financial misconduct and management foul-ups at the solid waste agency.

The contractor-general’s report cited procedural breaches in the awarding of $2-billion worth of contracts, as well as the payment of $640,000 monthly for legal services provided by a former board member/consultant.

Both reports were tabled in Parliament Wednesday by Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who has come under pressure from the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party to call in the police.

“The DPP and the police are to examine the reports with a view to take any necessary and appropriate action,” Minister Simpson Miller said in a statement yesterday.

Simpson Miller, who said the latest action has received the full backing of the prime minister, said the Ministry of Finance and the Attorney-General’s Department are to advise on actions to be taken on aspects of the reports which fall under their purview.

“The nation can be assured that as the investigations continue, no effort will be spared to ensure that any form of criminality is met with the full force of the law,” said the local government minister.

In the meantime, the police confirmed yesterday that they were investigating the theft of several pieces of computer equipment with sensitive data from the head office of the solid waste agency on Half-Way-Tree Road in Kingston between last weekend and Tuesday.

“Detectives have gone to the office to collect what is left for forensic testing,” a police source told the Observer yesterday.

The police were called after Errol Greene, who last month replaced Alston Stewart as head of the agency, was informed of the theft.

The hard drives and CD Rom burners were stolen from the executive information technology department on the third floor and from other offices on the fourth floor which houses the office of the executive director.

It was not clear last night if the information on the computers had anything to do with the investigations in the operations of the solid waste agency.

But Greene said last night: “Information on all work-related matters are kept on a server which is at a secure location.”

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding summoned a meeting of senior party officials to examine the implications of the reports on irregularities at the solid waste agency.

“What has so far been revealed constituted a damning indictment on the way in which some government agencies have been allowed to ‘run with it’.”

He said the blatant disregard for established procedures opened the door for corruption and nepotism and had made a mockery of the systems which the government claimed to have instituted to ensure probity in the administration of public agencies.

“It is obvious that integrity in the administration of government agencies was no more secure now than it was at the time of the fat salaries scandal or other scandals such as those surrounding NetServ and Operation Pride,” said Golding in a statement.

The JLP leader said various senior officials of the party have been assigned to undertake a detailed examination of various aspects of the reports and will hold a press conference next Tuesday to outline “the Opposition’s strategy to ensure that those responsible for the mess at the solid waste agency are held fully accountable”.