Hanover PC splintered contracts among family – report - Former Lucea mayor cleared of $200,000 stick-up allegations
Published:Friday | December 11, 2020 | 12:12 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
The Integrity Commission has found that the then Hanover Parish Council which was chaired by Shernet Haughton deliberately splintered contracts which led to three being issued to a person identified as Mr ‘BB’, his son, and his girlfriend.
However, the commission was unable to find sufficient evidence to substantiate claims that Haughton, then the mayor of Lucea, demanded $200,000 in exchange for the signing of cheques in 2014.
The cheques were allegedly in the amount of approximately $1 million for a project implemented by the Hanover Parish Council for the construction of a U-drain adjacent to the Lucea Transportation Centre. The council has since been renamed the Hanover Municipal Corporation.
Mr BB was awarded a contract valued at $288,000 by the council for the construction of a U-drain adjacent to the transport centre from June 23 to 30, 2014. The description of the work was for the “provision of labour, equipment, and excavation in rock, mud and silt for foundation, and for the provision and use of hydraulic pump or similar water-displacement methods”.
Ms ‘DD’, the common-law-wife of Mr BB, was awarded a contract valued at $327,000 by the council for work executed on the construction of a U-drain adjacent to the transport centre for the same June period. The contract was for “the supply of materials, provision of labour and materials to construct reinforced concrete cover on drain with access panels”.
Mr ‘CC’, son of Mr BB, was awarded a contract valued at $472,000 by the parish council for work that would be executed on the construction of a U-drain adjacent to the centre. His contract was for the provision of “mechanical equipment and backhoe to remove excess silt, debris, garbage and other sediments ...”.
“The effect of this splintering of the contract was that the direct contracting procurement procedures were applied rather than the limited tender procurement procedures,” the Integrity Commission said in a report, tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, into allegations of impropriety and irregularity in the signing of cheques at the parish council.
The Integrity Commission said that by its action, the parish council breached Section A1.1.1 of the Government of Jamaica Handbook of Public Sector Procurement Procedures in the award of the respective contracts.
The commission also concluded that the circumstances under which the contracts were awarded to Mr BB, his son, Mr CC, and his girlfriend, Ms DD, were in contravention of the Contractor General Act.
It has therefore recommended that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development immediately seek to ensure that the officers of the Hanover Municipal Corporation observe and abide by the procurement guidelines promulgated by the Government of Jamaica, particularly those in relation to the appropriate methodology to be utilised in accordance with the value of the contract and the respective threshold.
Haughton was freed of charges of misconduct in a public office in 2019 after the prosecution dropped its case in relation to accusations of nepotism in a public office and breaching government guidelines.
The Office of the Contractor General had reported that its probe found that 22 contracts, worth more than $3.7 million, were awarded to relatives and persons affiliated with the former mayor.
Haughton was barred from running as a PNP candidate in 2015.