The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was left in a state of alarm on Monday, when it was revealed that the Region Nine (Upper Takatu/Upper Essequibo) Regional Administration gave a contractor it had overpaid, an incredible 100-year payback period to repay the money owed.
During Monday’s sitting of the PAC, the Region Nine regional administration was called in to give account for findings in the Auditor General’s 2019 report. In paragraph 1479 of the report, $32.5 Million in overpayments that occurred between 2015 and 2018 years was addressed.
Public Works Minister and PAC member Juan Edghill questioned whether these overpayments had been recouped, either through having the works redone, completed or the sums refunded as the region had promised it would have done in the 2019 report.
Regional Executive Officer (REO) Karl Singh gave updates on various overpayments, but one contractor in particular attracted the most attention after his $5000 a month payment plan was revealed.
“Mr. Chairman, number one. The rehabilitation of agriculture complex. We have an outstanding balance of $402,000. Mr Parks was the contractor. Unfortunately, he’s deceased. The second one, upgrade to Aishalton Male and Female dormitory. Presently the contractor is repaying. He would have (been) issued a letter recently, after years of me trying to engage him, we issued a letter and he’s repaying,” Singh explained.
Further probing revealed that a payment plan was in place to ensure that the second named contractor can repay the more than $6 Million he was overpaid in this and three other projects. But consternation erupted in the PAC hearing when it was revealed that the contractor was given a generous payment plan the equivalent of a 100-year payback period, though according to Singh, the contractor is no longer getting contracts from the region and is, in fact, terminally ill.
“He’s presently paying $5000 per month. The person in question is terminally ill. And that is why I only got the opportunity now to engage him and have him pay these monies. We can’t do better than that sir,” the REO explained.
Based on Edghill’s calculations of the payback terms that were arranged- since $5000 per month, comes up to $60,000 per year and $600,000 in 10 years- it would mean the money would have to be repaid in 100 years, a prospect that caused PAC Chairman Jermaine Figueira to question the rationale of the arrangement. It did not help matters when it was revealed that the region fully paid the contractor for works completed inclusive of the retention sums.
“Mr Chairman, I like to be very moderate with the use of language. But this is a criminal matter here. If a gentleman is overpaid for measured works. And then he’s also paid the retention sum, which is not paid at the time of the final payment,” Edghill pointed out.
“The retention sum comes months or even a year after. And that was signed off, because I was calculating now. If the retention was not paid, we had something to improve our standing. But if the retention was also paid, we’re in trouble here,” he added.
Meanwhile, the REO assured that he would reengage with the contractor, in an effort to renegotiate a better payment plan on behalf of the State. The PAC also stressed the need for public officials to ensure the State’s interest is paramount in their dealings.
