KINGSTON, Jamaica — The management of Petrojam Limited yesterday admitted that the actions of former chairman Dr Perceval Bahado-Singh in purchasing airline tickets to attend board assignments without approval of the ministry’s permanent secretary was not normal practice.

The refinery’s manager for optimisation and business support Telroy Morgan confirmed at a Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) meeting that Dr Badado-Singh purchased an airline ticket to London in February which he was unable to use but was reimbursed for the ticket by the State-owned refinery in March.

However, the former chairman refunded the refinery for the US$8,384. 21 return ticket in May.

Bahado-Singh also refunded Petrojam US$7,873 in May for a second ticket, this time to Brazil.

However, these were only two of some 25 trips for which he was reimbursed between 2016 and this year, and the company’s executives admitted there was no evidence that he had been paid a per diem during any of the engagements.

But, the PetroJam executives said that the chairman breached the standard procedure for the provisions of the airline tickets for board members, which should have been given at the level of the permanent secretary and the Cabinet secretary, or if the minister offered no objections to approval.

Opposition member of the PAAC Fitz Jackson, who had raised the issue earlier in June when it first surfaced, also questioned why the ministry’s accounting officer did not seek clarification of the procedures before providing the reimbursements.

He was informed that the refinery’s general manager Floyd Grindley had given the go ahead.

Grindley, who was expected to give further explanations of the issues which have been raised over the past three weeks, was absent due to an overseas family emergency, and Morgan led the team from PetroJam.

However, they were unable to provide the committee with more detailed responses.

Committee chairman Dr Wykeham McNeill’s proposal, that they provide the written responses by the end of the week, was accepted by the members.

The committee also agreed that the questioning of the Petrojam staffers could be concluded by next Wednesday’s meeting.

Two more agencies of the ministry – eGov Limited and National Energy Solutions Limited (NESOL), the former rural electrification company — will be asked to respond to questions mainly from former energy minister, Phillip Paulwell, when the committee meets again next week.

Balford Henry