Chin to meet with Integrity Commission after notice urging him to come in

Member of Parliament for Manchester Southern Robert Chin is expected to meet with the Integrity Commission today to iron out issues that he says concern outstanding financial statements for companies in which he is a director.

On Sunday, the Integrity Commission, in an advertisement placed in The Sunday Gleaner, shared that it was unable to reach the member of parliament and summoned him to a meeting at the commission’s office in Kingston by March 27.

“The commission has made several attempts to contact Mr Robert Chin without success,” the ad states.

Chin, in a subsequent press release, indicated that he would be meeting with the commission today to have the matter resolved.

At the same time, he sought to dismiss reports by the commission that he could not be reached.

“I have been in touch with the Integrity Commission over the last few months in relation to requested financial statements for companies of which I am a director,” he said.

However, Chin said the company’s accountants have not yet completed the statements and apologised for not updating the commission.

Meanwhile, The Gleaner sought to ascertain from Chin via WhatsApp messages what steps the commission took to reach him or whether he was deliberately not in touch.

However, his only response was “they surely didn’t call.”

NO RESPONSE

The politician was also asked how soon the financial statements would be ready but did not provide an answer.

He also did not indicate whether there were other possible reasons the commission would be interested in meeting with him besides the outstanding financial statements.

The Integrity Commission in January last year raised questions about Petrojam Limited’s engagement with a company established by Chin in April 2017, which had received several contracts through direct contracting.

The former vice-president of Generation 2000, the young professionals arm of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, who had lost his bid for the Kingston Central seat in the 2016 general election, set up the company, ASC Business Services, and within a month, began receiving contracts from Petrojam.

The commission, in a special report of an investigation into conflicts of interest and corruption in the award of certain contracts by Petrojam, pointed out that Ronique Budram-Ford, the former head of the procurement unit at the state-owned oil refinery, played a role in the procurement process for the award of contract to ASC Business Services.

The IC Director of Investigations, Kevon Stephenson, said there was also evidence that indicates that Rishka Budram, the sister of Budram-Ford, who also has a child for Chin, is associated with and acted on behalf of ASC Business Services.

The commission reported that for the periods May 2017 to October 2017 and February 2018 to June 2018, procurement activities were issued by Petrojam Limited to ASC Business Services every month.

14 CONTRACTS

“With respect to the 14 contracts which were awarded by Petrojam Limited to ASC Business Services, the director of investigations notes that in at least nine instances: a) the dates on which the bidding document was issued; b) the bid submission deadline; and, c) the date on which the bid quotation was submitted were the same,” the commission had reported.

The anti-corruption body pointed out then that all contracts awarded to ASC Business Services were through direct contracting and that they received the requisite endorsements and approvals by the then general manager, Floyd Grindley.

Arising from the incident, Stephenson had accused Grindley and Budram-Ford of the “common-law offence of misconduct in public office” and breaches of the Corruption (Prevention) Act.

As a result, both were referred to the director of corruption prosecution for “such further action as deemed appropriate”.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com