Corruption prosecutor to probe conflict of interest claims against PM Holness

 

The Integrity Commission has referred a report to the Director of Corruption Prosecution implicating Prime Minister Andrew Holness in an alleged conflict of interest, after it concluded that he may have influenced the awarding of millions of dollars in government contracts to the company of a business associate.

 

The investigation surrounds allegations that contracts were awarded to Westcon Construction Limited and that there is a connection and/or relationship between the proprietors of the named entity and Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who was then Minister of Education, Youth and Information.  

 

The report details an investigation into the award of government contracts to Westcon Construction Limited between 2006 and 2009.

 

In the report, the Director of Investigation says there is evidence to show that Mr. Holness has a personal affiliation with Robert Garvin, one of the directors of Westcon Construction Limited.

 

It further notes that by his own admission, Mr. Holness disclosed that Mr. Garvin was personally known to him for approximately 20 years.

 

Additionally, the Director of Investigation found that although the Social Development Commission was the implementing agency with the authority to effect the administration of government contracts procurement procedures, Mr. Holness, through his admitted recommendation of Westcon Construction Limited, may have influenced the award of the contracts.

 

The findings further outline that the relationship between Robert Garvin and  Prime Minister Andrew Holness shows reasonable grounds to conclude that the apparent influence of Mr. Holness was brought to bear on the contracts awarded by the SDC to Westcon Construction Limited.

 

One of the findings indicates that a total of ten contracts were awarded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information to Westcon Construction Limited during the period February 14, 2007 to November 10, 2009.

 

The report said the contracts awarded to Westcon Construction through the Ministry of Education totalled $21.8 million.

 

Of those ten contracts, only five were reported to the then Office of the Contractor General by way of the Education Ministry's Quarterly Contract Award (QCA) Reports for the period.

 

The report also outlined that two contracts were awarded through the SDC to Westcon - one for $375,000 and another for $1.4 million.

 

Both contracts were reported to the Office of the Contractor General, but there was no evidence of the SDC utilising formal tender procedures for the procurement.

 

The report said the matter concerning the potential conflict of interest which arose in relation to the recommendation made by Prime Minister Holness is being referred to the Director of Corruption Prosecution for consideration with respect to breaches of the Contractor General Act, Public Sector Procurement Regulations 2008, Corruption (Prevention) Act and/or any other applicable law.