(Trinidad Express) Yet another nail has been driven in the coffin of Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs.
Solicitor General Eleanor Donaldson Honeywell has concluded that Gibbs acted “without authority” in the award of a contract to Zenith Air Scout Surveillance Aircraft at an estimated cost of TT$902,772.00.
“The supposition of the CoP that as Accounting Officer he was authorised to act for the Central Tenders Board in procurement, resulting in the engagement of a contract valued up to TT$1 million was unfounded,” the Solicitor General wrote in her statement sent to the Sunday Express yesterday.
She said only a Permanent Secretary had this authority.
Gibbs, she stressed, did not have the authority to enter into procurement transactions of any dollar value without adhering to the existing Central Tenders Board Act provisions.
“As Accounting Officer the CoP is required by law to ensure that financial expenditure for the TTPS is duly authorised. He was required to ensure that the CTB procedures were applied. He may therefore be found to have failed to carry out his duties as a public official in this transaction,” she said.
The Solicitor General also advised that a contract such as this transaction entered into by the Police Service, made in excess of the authority’s power “will be ultra vires and void”.
“Accordingly neither party may be entitled to enforce this agreement even if the contracting company was unaware that the Commissioner entitled his authority by entering into this transaction,” Donaldson-Honeywell stated.
At a Joint Select Committee meeting two weeks ago, Gibbs was found to be disrespectful, lacking in leadership qualities, unenthusiastic and lacking passion for the job.
And chairman of the Police Service Commission Prof Ramesh Deosaran stated that Gibbs was warned that he was close to the brink.
The matter of the purchase of police uniforms is still to be adjudicated upon by the competent authorities.
But in the purchase of the aircraft Gibbs has been found to have breached the financial regulations and the law.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday gave just a small gist of the findings of the Solicitor General as debate on a no-confidence motion brought against her wound up in the Parliament.
Donaldson-Honeywell considered whether there was any breach of the rules of law in the actions of the Police Service; whether the explanations given by Deputy Police Commissioner Ewatski justified the use of sole tendering in the transaction; whether the Commissioner is an Accounting Officer within the meaning of the financial regulations and if so whether his actions were in keeping with his role as Accounting Officer.
The Solicitor General also considered whether the CoP was well briefed on the procurement procedures on his assumption of duties.
Reference is made to a letter dated February 15, 2012 received on Thursday from the chairman of the Law Reform Commission with directions to Attorney General Anand Ramlogan on whether any rule of law was breached by the Police Service on the issue of the award of a contract to the firm of Trinidad and Tobago Air Support for the supply of a Zenith Air Scout surveillance aircraft at an estimated cost of $902,772.00.
The document included a letter from National Security Minister John Sandy to the Attorney General setting out a text message received from the then acting Commissioner Jack Ewatski, explaining the use of sole tendering in this matter and referring to other relevant correspondence copied for the Attorney General’s attention.
It also included a letter dated January 30, 2012 from the then Acting Commissioner Ewatski addressed to the Minister (of National Security) providing information in response to questions raised by the Opposition on the issue.
Sandy by letter dated February 1, 2012, indicated to Ewatski that his (January 30) response failed to take into account statutory provisions under the Central Tenders Board Act, Chap 71:91.
Sandy requested a further explanation by February 3, 2012.
On February 3, Ewatski wrote to the minister stating that he could advise only on his own actions and not those taken by the Commissioner of Police.
On February 9, 2012, the Attorney General responded to a letter received from CoP Gibbs which was dated February 7.
The Attorney General’s letter sought to provide Gibbs with clarification on the information provided to him by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security on his assumption of duties as Commissioner. The letter was accompanied by a manual, prepared by the National Security Procurement Unit, which focused on Gibbs’ role as accounting officer.
The Solicitor General noted that she did not receive a letter of appointment of Gibbs as accounting officer which he (Gibbs) alleged he received subsequent to his appointment.
He also did not receive the full text of the hand-over documents with guidelines on procurement given to Gibbs and in particular, those that reflect, “as he (Gibbs) alleges that as Accounting Officer he was authorised to expend up to TT$1 million”.
The Solicitor General also did not receive a document referred to by Gibbs as “the Circular Memorandum dated July 26, 2004 to which he said Legal Notice No 89 of 1992 establishing the Special Tenders Committee was subject”.
Also not received were details or information on any prior relationship Ewatski had with the principals in the transaction.
