Former Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Six, Desmond Kissoon has filed a writ for libel against Kaieteur News (KN) and the newspaper’s Berbice correspondent and is seeking to clear his name of accusations made against him over the purchase of low-bed equipment.
Kissoon told Stabroek News in an interview recently that the court orders, issued earlier this month, are in relation to publications made in the newspaper alleging that he made “shady transactions involving millions of dollars.”
He admitted, as stated in two of the publications, that he had been transferred to Region Two but said that the articles contained misleading information which were damaging to his character.
Kissoon who tendered his resignation from the post of REO on April 8, two days before his contract ended, pointed out that “I left to clear my name. I did not go to the press before because it would have been a breach of my contract so I decided to come off [resign] first.”
In his resignation addressed to the Permanent Secretary (PS), Ministry of Local Government (MLG), Seewchand, he mentioned that articles appeared in the KN that were “defamatory to his character.”
He reminded the PS that the issues were raised at the REOs meeting, held at Red House on March 26, and were “adequately ventilated.” He also told him in the letter, “You had agreed that the ministry is satisfied that I am in no way corrupt and further that in no Auditor General’s report has any act of corruption been identified in which I am involved.”
He mentioned too that “… the ministry gave a commitment that a press release would be made” regarding the issue but “to date this has not been done.”
Further, he said “… because of the continuous torture it [the accusation] has brought to myself, my family and friends, it is now inevitable that I approach the media in an effort to remove these stains.”
The KN articles alleged that, “The REO was the one who inspected the low-bed and approved its purchase. Problems began after $11.7M was allegedly paid to a contractor for the vehicle.” But Kissoon declared that $3.7M was the price for the low-bed and the hauler was valued at $8M.
Further, he showed this newspaper a letter that he sent to the AG’s office, outlining the procedures that were adhered to for the acquisition of the low-bed.
Adjudicate
Kissoon said in the letter that he wrote to the NPTAB (National Procurement & Tender Administration Board) seeking approval for the bid to be placed in the National Tender Box (NTB) and for the NPTAB to adjudicate. He said the document was prepared by the regional engineer Charles Baker under the guidance of NPTAB.
According to the letter, the tenders were advertised in a national newspaper while the documents were sold by the regional accounting unit, Region Six. An overseer from the region, he said, was sent to witness the opening of the bids which were placed in the NTB and later sent for evaluation.
He pointed out that he was advised that the evaluation committee recommended the award to Associated Con-struction Services. Upon request, checks were subsequently made by the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) to verify if the low-bed had met the specifications outlined in the tender document.
He also showed this newspaper a copy of a document signed on November 7, 2007 by Everad Providence, a mechanic of the MPW that he had inspected the two pieces of equipment and was satisfied with their condition.
The document was certified correct by the sub-treasury officer of Region six, Dana Cordovi; senior superintendent of works, Paul A. Lyken and field auditor, Collette Adams.
According to the KN article, “Since they at the Regional Administration purchased the low-bed it has not been uplifted as yet. It can still be seen parked in front of the contractor’s home on the Corentyne.”
Peter Lewis, Managing Director of Associated Con-struction Services (ASC) of Hampshire, Corentyne, from whom the purchase was made on November 8, 2007, wrote a letter to Kissoon on November 23, 2007 stating that the equipment was not picked up on November 13 – three days later – as had been arranged.
The KN articles stated too, “It should be noted that since the purchase of the low-bed, the Regional Administration from mid-December 2007 to the end of February 2008, has spent some $2.9M to hire another low-bed to move drainage and irrigation machinery to and from different points in the region to do D&I works.”
Commit
To this Kissoon related that apart from him serving as the REO, he was also appointed accounting officer by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), making him the only person to “commit any expenditure.” He stated that he was not aware of the expenditure to hire a low-bed for $2.9M to transport the region’s machinery.
He requested that the Auditor General’s (AG) office and the MOF conduct an investigation to find out who committed the funds and when was the tender board meeting held to approve the hiring of a machine.
“I am also asking that the necessary course of action be taken against persons who committed the funds,” he said.
But this newspaper learnt from an official that the “transportation for the movement of the region’s machineries was tendered and approved by the tender board at a specific rate…”
The article also accused Kissoon of being transferred from Region Nine to Region Six in mid-2007 after “similar allegations were made against him…”
But he retorted “that is totally false!” He declared that he was in fact sent to the region on March 1, 2007 during a “national movement of REOs…”
According to him, “the REO from Region Seven was sent to Region Eight and the REO from Region One went to Region Seven,” leading to “new appointments in Regions Four, Five and Nine and all were effective from the same date.”
The article stated too that the MOF “and the Ministry of Local Government launched an inquiry into allegations of the $11.7M purchase of the low-bed vehicle.”
In the same paragraph the article mentioned that “the informants said that they were told by senior government officials that the investigation… did not find anything amiss with the transaction.”
“However,” it went on, “the regional authorities have ordered an audit… if they [government officials] did not find anything then why are they doing the audit now?, Kissoon queried”
This newspaper was shown a copy of the report of the investigation conducted by Seewchan; Choo-Kang, planner, MOF and Puran Persaud, senior Regional Development Officer, MOLG on January 17, 2008.
Detachable
It stated, as specified in the bid: the low-bed is detachable; could load from the front and back; is 40 ft in length [the bid document required 35 ft]; is eight ft 10 inches wide [the bid document required eight to ten feet wide] and the hauler is equipped with a double axle.
According to the report, “the bid document states clearly [that] for a low-bed, there are two agreements of sale: one for the low-bed and one for a hauler…”
While documents provided by Kissoon proved that there were two agreements of sale, the report found that one payment voucher was prepared.
It was stated in the report that Roy Hanoman, member of the Region’s Procurement and Tender Board (RPTB) objected to the purchase because the equipment was a “flat-bed” instead of a low-bed. But the technical personnel from the MOPW pointed out that the equipment purchased is a Jost model of German design.
The report also indicated that Kissoon “did not adhere to instruction from the regional chairman to hold payment.”
But Kissoon responded in the report that he was not sure if any payment was made as there could not be any communication between him and the sub-treasury officer. He said during the same week he and the officer were in Georgetown on two separate days each.
He said it was when he met the officer the following week that he became aware that the payment had already been made. He also told this newspaper that the chairman spoke to him “days after the transactions were made…”
Meantime, he said he found it odd that the reporter did not contact him for a comment, although she had access to his telephone numbers.
