KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness is to review the auditor general’s report on the operations of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) and its affiliate, the state-owned oil refinery Petrojam, after which further action will be taken.

This is according to Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator Ruel Reid, who was responding to questions posed by journalists during a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House today.

The report, titled ‘A Review of Aspects of Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) and a Comprehensive Audit of Petrojam Limited’, was tabled in Parliament yesterday.

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis said a comprehensive audit was commissioned following public concerns regarding mismanagement at the State-owned entity.

She said the audit revealed a number of deficiencies to include a number of corrupt practices and several instances of nepotism at the entity.

A brief perusal of the audit revealed that the entity ran into hundreds of millions of dollars in losses due to bad management practices.

It also revealed high levels of accountable and unaccountable oil losses, instances of management overriding procurement guidelines, poor management of capital investment projects and consultancy arrangements, inconsistent recruitment and employment practices, and inadequate oversight and monitoring of PetroJam operations.

“The prime minister commissioned the report and he is now going to be privy to the report, and we will act based on the recommendations that are so contained in terms of the remedies. We have been very proactive in addressing some of the systemic issues that we have inherited,” Reid said.

He stressed that the Government believes in strong, bold and transformational leadership, “and we can assure the public that this matter is going to be dealt with properly and to the satisfaction of all concerned”.

The prime minister, who is away on official working visits to three major international summits, returns to the island today.