The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament on Monday urged the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Four Donald Gajraj to take disciplinary action against regional officials who would have facilitated the overpayment of almost $1.8 million to a contractor back in 2006 for work that was only about 60 percent complete.
The PAC also rapped the Region Four Administration for weaknesses in the regional system, which have allowed incomplete projects to be “signed off” as complete, thereby facilitating overpayment of contracts. The issue was highlighted as Gajraj and a team appeared before the PAC to answer questions on the 2009 Auditor General’s Report. Gajraj has been in the post for less than a year.
The 2009 report said that: “The Regional Administration had still not recovered overpayment of $1.807M, which was paid to the contractor for the rehabilitation of Clonbrook Nursery School Road in 2005. This was due to the contractor rehabilitating 590 feet of the said road instead of 975 feet, as was stated in the bill of quantities.” The Head of Budget Agency indicated that the contractor has since died.
Explaining the position on the case, Gajraj said that the contract had been awarded in 2006 and that the contractor had died in 2007. He said that they made efforts to levy against the property, but when they spoke to the estate, the man’s son told them that the court had said that the time for such action had elapsed. He has written to the Ministry of Finance outlining the situation and requesting that some closure be brought to the matter.
However, PPP/C MP Bibi Shadick questioned this explanation especially since the matter was never taken to the court or legal advice sought. She explained though that the statute of limitation could affect some cases.
Shadick, however, said that this reflected weaknesses in the regional system and that there were regional officers at fault.
“When somebody overpays a contractor on a certificate of completion and signs off that the man was paid for 975 feet of road and when the auditors go they could only find 590 feet, then it’s not the contractor’s fault. The contractor colluded but it has to be some officer who has signed off and we need to find out how we can get back that money from the officer or officers who did this,” Shadick contended.
This prompted both PPP/C MP Indra Chandarpal and the Acting Committee Chairman PNCR-1G MP Ernest Elliot to query who inspected the work and who was responsible for signing off on this particular project as completed.
“The preparation of document and signing off of that final document is done with the engineer and the REO. The certificate of completion is signed off by the Chairman of the Public Works Committee. If the document is not signed by the Chairman of the Public Works Committee no payment is done,” Gajraj answered. According to him, the engineer goes out and verifies before he signs after which the REO would sign based on the engineer’s signature. “But still that won’t cause the money to be paid unless the Chairman of the Public Works Committee presents the final certificate,” he stressed. Gajraj later identified a person as the superintendent of works, who was still in position. The REO was then urged to take action against these individuals.
“If you’re telling PAC that, it therefore means that PAC will be looking forward for some action. And we would like you to report on the action taken within 14 days,” Elliot said.
Shadick, meanwhile, said that although Gajraj was not the REO at the time of this particular occurrence, he needed to guard against similar occurrences. “At the end of the day, it is the REO whose desk the buck stops at,” she said.
She said that he had to put systems in place to ensure that his officers told him the truth. When asked if he had gone out to examine some of the work being done in the region, Gajraj answered in the affirmative.
The 2009 Auditor General’s report had noted several breaches of Tender Board Procedures in Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica). It pointed to fraudulent practices to the value of $11.2 M perpetuated on the Regional Administration during the audit year. Last year, Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall invited the Auditor General to conduct an investigation into the financial affairs of the region. Following the investigation, the then REO Shafdar Ali and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Expediter Bharrat Persaud were sent on leave.
Subsequently, the Guyana Police Force was called in and a wanted bulletin issued for Ali. Ali turned himself in for questioning and was then released. Charges have never been laid against him.
