Underscoring that there are consequences for acting outside of the law, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill will soon be meeting with Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) General Manager, Rawlston Adams to discuss the circumstances surrounding his purchase of a nearly $900,000 gold bracelet with DHB money.
“It ought not to have happened and it shows what happens when checks and balances are not in place. Good governance always requires same and people need to seek proper approval and have responsibility. From what was said to us, there were no checks and balances and it is something we hope never happens again,” Edghill told Stabroek News yesterday.
“While you have a bracelet which could have been in the form as a gift that is just an action that could have come from a lax system. Who knows what else could have happened under a lax system. No matter how good a person, when you are in a situation where there is lack of accountability a lot could happen,” he added.
Edghill said that he does not want to pronounce on if the bracelet should be returned to the state or what should happen going forward until he would have first spoken to the General Manager.
“I would not want to pronounce on that without first of all having an opportunity of speaking to Mr. Adams. I think I owe it to him to speak to him about it,” he said.
He added, “Every finding of the investigative team was sent to the management for a response, but I still think that as the subject minister, I need to speak to Mr. Adams to know what led to that situation. “Nonetheless, the Minister of Public Works said that he holds a principled position on matters of persons found to have acted outside of the law and it holds for Adams’ actions. “My principled position on this and any other matter where people would have acted outside the law, is there are consequences for such actions,” he stressed.
An investigation into the operations of the Asphalt Plant (AP), which is managed by the Demerara Harbour Bridge, found that Adams last year approved the purchase of a bracelet worth $897,000 for himself, with money from the DHB.
“The Asphalt Plant along with the Demerara Harbour Bridge purchased, in November 2019, a bracelet for the General Manager, at the approval of the General Manager, to the value of Eight Hundred and Ninety-Seven Thousand Guyana Dollars (G$897,000) as a gift for International Men’s Day,” the report, commissioned by the PPP/C government in October of this year and which was released last week, stated.
The team, led by Chartered Accountant Chateram Ramdihal, pointed out in the report that the Board of Directors, at a meeting held in August 2016, had enunciated a policy that gifts, donations and staff incentives be approved by the Board.
Adams, when contacted by this newspaper had declined to comment, saying that the Board would issue a statement and management of the DHB and AP would comment after reviewing the report by Ramdihal and team.
“We provided our comments during the investigation and it is in the report but that, it seems, was played down. We will be addressing the issue and the Board will make some comments. I have not seen the report but we will be reviewing it,” he said.
“As I said, we will be making some comments and once we get copies of the report, those comments will be drafted at the managerial level and we will provide any other information that they may need,” he added when pressed on the findings.
And while Adams told this newspaper that the DHB and AP provided a response in the report and it was played down, the report pointed out that justification from management was that “Gifts were given to all men within the organization. This is the standard practice in the organization,” and that bills and receipts of the purchases were provided.
However, the disparity in cost of the General Manager’s bracelet compared to the other men was a whopping $887,000 as the report pointed out that “gifts were also given to all the other men within the Corporation, to an approximate value of G$10,000 each, to mark the occasion of International Men’s Day.”
Asked if he would return the bracelet to the state if it was found that it was improperly procured, he repeated that he would “provide any information on the matter if asked.”
The report said that due to the lack of an independent approval system, “the following observation can be deemed to be misuse of the (Asphalt) Plant funds for personal gain.”
It recommended that management should ensure that the policies of the Plant are adhered to at all times. “Management should ensure that gifts to employees are done in accordance with generally accepted principles and at arm’s length,” the report said.
