Former Petrojam managers Grindley and Budram-Ford referred for corruption prosecution

 

The Integrity Commission has recommended two former employees of Petrojam to the Director of Corruption Prosecution.

 

Former General Manager Floyd Grindley and former head of the Procurement Unit, Ronique Budram-Ford, have been cited for misconduct in public office, breaches of the 2014 Government of Jamaica Handbook of Public Sector Procurement Procedures, breaches of the Contractor General Act-Public Sector Procurement Regulations 2008, and breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act.

 

The recommendation stems from an investigation undertaken by the Integrity Commission into allegations of irregularity, conflict of interest, and corruption in the award of certain contracts by Petrojam.

 

The Commission found that Mr. Grindley may have acted negligently in the discharge of his fiduciary obligations and responsibilities as then General Manager of Petrojam Limited. It said this was due to his apparent disregard of the former Procurement Unit head's advice and caution, concerning the deviation from the procurement guidelines and his subsequent approval and insistence in the award of contracts to Main Event Entertainment Group Limited, utilising the Direct Contracting procurement methodology.

 

The Integrity Commission said by his own admission, Mr. Grindley acted on the alleged improper instructions of then Chairman, Dr. Perceval Bahado-Singh, to approve what appears to be the irregular award of contracts to Construction Solutions Limited, Main Event Entertainment Limited and Asha Corporation.

 

The report into the probe states that the apparent 'more than platonic' relationship between Mr. Grindley and Mrs. Budram-Ford existed in the period in which several contracts were awarded in an apparently irregular manner to ASC Business Services, the company with which Mrs. Budram-Ford's sister is affiliated.

 

These contracts were awarded by Petrojam Limited upon the instructions of Mrs Budram-Ford as the former Procurement Unit head and then approved by Mr. Grindley in his capacity as then General Manager.

 

The Commission also found that Mrs Budram-Ford, in the execution of her public function, appeared to have advanced a private interest which resulted in a monetary benefit to her sister and/or her sister's child's father.

 

It said in this respect, the investigator has reasonable grounds to suspect that the actions of Mrs Budram-Ford gave rise to a breach of Section 14 of the Corruption Prevention Act.