The Office of the Contractor General Concludes two (2) Special Investigation Reports Kingston; September 16, 2013 – The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) has concluded its Special Investigation concerning the complaint which was received regarding the ‘Award of Contracts to Construct/Repair and to Rent Shops at the Spalding Market’. The OCG has also completed its Special Investigation as it regards the ‘Right to Supply 360 Megawatts of Power to the National Grid’. In keeping with the requirements of the Contractor General Act, copies of the OCG’s Report of Investigation into the complaint regarding the award of contracts to construct/repair and to rent shops at the Spalding Market was, on Monday Spetember 16-2013 dispatched, by Contractor General, Dirk Harrison, to eight (8) State Authorities, namely, the Hon Michael Peart, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon Floyd Morris, President of the Senate, Mrs. Heather Cooke, Clerk to the Houses of Parliament, the Hon. Noel Arscott, Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Mr. Robert Rainford, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, Mayor Scean Barnswell, Chairman of the Clarendon Parish Council, Mr. Rowhan Blake, Secretary Manager, Clarendon Parish Council, Miss. Paula Llewellyn, Director of Public Prosecutions, and Mrs. Pamela Munroe- Ellis, Auditor General. The OCG’s Report of Investigation into the ‘Right to Supply 360 Megawatts of Power to the National Grid’ was also today dispatched to five (5) State Authorities, namely, the Hon Michael Peart, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon Floyd Morris, President of the Senate, Mrs. Heather Cooke, Clerk to the Houses of Parliament, the Hon. Phillip Paulwell, the Minister of Science Technology, Energy and Mining, Mrs. Hillary Alexander, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Science Technology, Energy and Mining, and Mr. Maurice Charvis, Director General of the Office of Utilities Regulations. Section 20 (1) of the Contractor General Act provides as follows: “After conducting an investigation under this Act, a Contractor General shall, in writing, inform the principal officer of the public body concerned and the Minister having portfolio responsibility therefor of the result of that investigation and make such recommendations as he considers necessary in respect of the matter which was investigated”. Further, it is instructive to note that Section 21 of the Act provides as follows: “If a Contractor General finds, during the course of his investigations or on the conclusion thereof that there is evidence of a breach of duty or misconduct or criminal offence on the part of an officer or member of a Public Body, he shall refer the matter to the person or persons competent to take such disciplinary or other proceeding as may be appropriate against that officer or member and in all such cases shall lay a special report before Parliament”. Section 28 (3) of the Contractor General Act requires the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate to have OCG Reports of Investigation tabled in both Houses of Parliament ‘as soon as possible’. As is customary, the Clerk to the Houses of Parliament has been provided with compact discs which bear a full electronic copy of the OCG’s Special Reports of Investigation. In the interest of public transparency, and acting in pursuance of the special powers that are reserved to a Contractor General by Section 28 (4) of the Contractor General Act, the OCG’s Special Investigation Reports will be published on the OCG’s website at ocg.gov.jm, but only after the Reports have been formally laid in both Houses of Parliament. The OCG wishes to caution that where Reports of its Special Investigation find their way into the Media prior to the tabling of the said Reports in the Houses of Parliament, the OCG, hereby, disassociates itself from any such claim of publication. Photo: Jamaican Contractor General Dirk Harrison - photo credits Jamaica Gleaner
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:41:45 +0000