Jagdeo calls on AG to probe $300M injected into DHB feasibility study

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is calling for an investigation into the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) after information was received that almost $300 million was removed from the Asphalt Plant account and injected into the controversial feasibility study for the new Demerara Harbour Bridge.
Speaking at his weekly press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo said information was received from a whistle-blower that a total of $289 million was diverted from the Asphalt Plant’s account into the feasibility study of the new Demerara river crossing, despite a $148 million contract having been awarded for that project. The Asphalt Plant falls under the DHBC.
“Cabinet awarded for $161 million. The contractor had a contract signed for $148 million, but they withdrew from the Demerara Harbour Bridge account $215 million in 2017, plus another $74 million in 2018. So that takes us to nearly $300 million that came out of the Demerara Harbour Bridge account for this project; nearly twice as much (as the contract),” Jagdeo posited.
To this end, the Opposition Leader is calling on the Auditor General to look into the matter. “We need the Auditor General to immediately look into this project, because the Police will not do it,” he asserted.
Jagdeo is referring to the Police investigation into the award of a sole-sourced contract for a feasibility study into the construction of the new Demerara River Bridge. The contract in question was awarded to Dutch company LievenseCSO for a feasibility study into the new bridge.
A probe conducted by the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) upon request from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic(PPP/C) had flagged Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson for requesting from Cabinet that the $148 million contract be sole-sourced instead of being processed through the Procurement Board, as the law says should be done.
As a result of the findings, the Opposition last August asked the Guyana Police Force’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) to investigate the PPC’s findings. The Police last said that the file has been sent for legal advice.
“Since August of last year, we filed a report with the Police, they completed investigations in January this year, and we haven’t heard a single thing from them. By now Patterson should’ve been charged,” Jagdeo insisted.
Almost weekly, the Opposition Leader has been lamenting that the Police are yet to take any action, and according to him at this week’s media briefing, this new information regarding monies being removed from the Asphalt Plant’s account came in from a whistleblower having heard him.
“(The whistleblower) pointed out that it’s not just that it was done illegally, but nearly another $150 million more than what the project was signed for had been used up. And the whistleblower has also said that if you check the payment to the contractor, not even the $148 was paid over to the contractor. So, clearly, there is enough to warrant a full-fledged investigation. We believe that hundreds of millions of dollars is being stolen through this project,” Jagdeo stated.
He went on to say that in light of all of these allegations, the Police need to get the Dutch company here and question them as well as those at the Asphalt Plant to determine how much money was actually released for this project, since this appears to be a “straight forward case of theft of a large sum of money.
“So I’m very concerned about the pattern that we see here; not that it’s unexpected,” Jagdeo said.
This is not the first time this issue of money from the Asphalt Plant being used for the feasibility study is highlighted. In fact, the redirecting of the money is reflected in the agency’s 2019 budget allocation. As such, it was scrutinised by the Opposition during the December consideration of Budget Estimates.
During his presentation, Opposition Shadow Infrastructure Minister Juan Edghill rapped the Public Infrastructure Minister over the new Demerara River Bridge feasibility study; the contract for which saw not only Patterson breaching the procurement laws, but the entire Cabinet as well, when they approved the award to the Dutch company.
Edghill, however, claimed that payment for the study came from an extra-budgetary account; that is, the Asphalt Plant of the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB). He went on to say that some $227 million was reportedly spent on the feasibility study when the nation was told that the company only got $148 million.
“Where did the rest of the money go? We want to know today… because you went into an extra-budgetary account, you took money illegally and paid for a feasibility study that was an unsolicited bid… How much did you spend, because you’re asking for another $100 million from the Budget,” Edghill stated.
In response, however, Minister Patterson only confirmed that the $100 million being sought was indeed for feasibility studies for the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, but he did not address the other disbursements from the Asphalt Plant’s account.