Barbara Clarke last night said that Contractor General Greg Christie’s unwillingness to correct inaccuracies in his report on a probe of contract arrangements between her company and PETCOM has forced her to instruct her lawyers “to take whatever action is necessary” to clear her name and preserve her integrity.

Clarke, who chairs the board of PETCOM (Petroleum Company of Jamaica), also released letters sent to Christie last week by her lawyers, Mitchell Hanson and Company, in which they asked him to amend his report before tabling it in Parliament as, they said, it contained errors and misleading statements.

“Our client’s reputation and standing will suffer irreparable harm if the erroneous and misleading statements made in your report are not amended,” the lawyers told Christie in a letter dated January 8, 2007.

Christie’s report, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, said that the PETCOM board awarded 18 contracts worth just under $5 million, for training PETCOM staff and promoting the company’s products, to Clarke’s company, Elegant Traders, over the last 3 1/2 years.

“Twelve of those contracts were awarded after Ms Clarke had assumed the post of chairperson of the PETCOM board,” the report said.

“The investigation also concluded that Ms Clarke was, at all material times, the majority shareholder, principal and managing director of Elegant Traders Limited, and that a conflict of interest existed wherein Ms Clarke, in her position, as chairperson of PETCOM, had the capacity to influence and, from all appearances, may have influenced the award of contracts to her business interest, Elegant Traders Ltd,” said the report.

However, in their January 8 letter to Christie, Clarke’s lawyers had challenged him to produce factual evidence of either undue influence on Clarke’s part or conflict of interest and said that his “research was neither diligent nor thorough”.

The lawyers also pointed out that Clarke had, since June 2006, withdrawn from any supply opportunity to PETCOM and had conducted her dealings with the state-run firm “transparently and openly”.

In a second letter to Christie dated January 9, 2007, the lawyers thanked him for his acknowledgment and response to their January 8 letter, but noted that he had failed to respond to their challenge to produce evidence of undue influence and conflict of interest. “Those assertions are even more potent and damaging coming from the authority of your office,” the lawyers said and again advised him to review his report.

Last night, Clarke also released declarations signed by PETCOM Company Secretary Rodney Salmon and board member Cynthia Crooks stating that Clarke had declared her business interests with the state-run firm at the first meeting of the current board on May 11, 2005.

She also provided copies of letters to Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell and PETCOM General Manager Desmond Thomas advising of her decision to discontinue the business relationship between her firm and PETCOM.