After months of inactivity following a major controversy over its chairmanship, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday resumed examining the findings of the Auditor General’s Report for the year 2015.
Yesterday’s hearings heard that as part of attempts to recover more than three million in overpayments made in 2015, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has instituted legal action against a contractor who failed to complete the construction of a kitchen mess hall at Air Corps TImehri.
In his report covering the 2015 fiscal year, Auditor General Deodat Sharma noted that a contract for the completion of the building was awarded to the lowest of ten bidders in the sum of $12.495 million. By 31 December 2015, amounts totalling $12.336M were paid to the contractor however a physical verification of the works carried out on 7 September 2016 revealed that the contractor had de-mobilized from the site and the works appeared to have been abandoned. Physical measurements taken on site and calculations revealed that the sum of $6.573M was overpaid to the contractor.
In March 2017 a re-examination of the project site revealed that the plastering of the main roof and the roofing were completed but it was observed that the windows were not properly installed.
The overpayment was reduced to the sum of $3.095 million. A further reduction to $1.671 million was approved once additional works were completed but according to the GDF they are now exploring other methods of recovering this sum.
“We have started more or less legal proceedings as it regards this transaction. We have written to the contractor seeking an amicable solution and we have engaged the AG office as regards this transaction,” Colonel A. De Mendonza told the Public Accounts Committee yesterday.
He added that a truck owned by the contractor has been seized by the force pending resolution of the matter.
However when questioned by Committee Chair Jermaine Figueira if the vehicle was being used by the force he said no. He also added that no effort had been made to value the seized vehicle to compare it to the outstanding debt.
At Figueira’s urging the GDF officers have now committed to acquiring this valuation.
Figueira is now the Chairman of the PAC after the National Assembly removed the previous Chair David Patterson
