DEAN Peart, the minister of local government, told the House of Representatives yesterday that neither he nor the internal auditors in his ministry, were aware of a July 2001 Cabinet decision to exclude some contracts ranging up to $250,000 from tender, when they audited parish councils earlier this year.

Peart also could not recall whether he was a member of the Cabinet in July 2001 when the decision was made, when he was asked by the leader of the opposition, Bruce Golding.

The minister was answering questions from Golding following a statement to the House of Representatives in which he sought to clarify issues arising from his statement of November 7 in which he reported to Parliament on the audits.

Golding: Were you not a member of the Cabinet at the time when that decision was made?

Peart: I am not sure. I am not sure. Honestly, not sure. I don’t want to tell you, yes. I don’t know.

Golding: The minister said that the variation to the guideline that was approved by Cabinet was confined to emergency work and drain cleaning. Is it not also true that the variation also applied to special employment projects?

Peart nodded in agreement.

Golding: But you didn’t say so. Now, can I ask the minister, in the audit reports submitted to him by his own internal auditors, did these internal auditors note the differentiations in the contracts which they examined in the parish councils, to determine which of those contracts fell within the ambit of the type of contracts for which Cabinet had approved this variation?

Peart: What would have to happen is that the ministry would have sent a copy of the Cabinet decision to the parish councils, so the parish councils weren’t aware of this. The audit team wasn’t aware of it either, so the audit team could not take this into consideration.

Golding: Is the minister telling us that his internal auditors in 2006 were not aware of that Cabinet decision made in 2001? Is that what he is telling us? Are you saying that your internal auditors, at the time when they conducted the audit, were not aware of the Cabinet decision that was made in 2001?

Peart: That’s my understanding.

Golding: No further questions, Mr Speaker.

Research done by the Observer revealed that Peart was actually the minister of labour and social security and a member of the Cabinet in 2001.

Peart, who was born in May 1951, was first elected to Parliament in 1989. He was made parliamentary secretary in the Ministry Labour and Sports in 1989; minister of state for industry and commerce in 1991; minister of state for construction and works in 1993; minister of state for local government and works in 1995; minister of state for transport and works in 1998; and joined the Cabinet in April 1999 as minister of labour and social security where he remained until he became minister of land and environment following the general elections in 2002 and minister of local government and environment since February this year.