Allegations of collusion between Birk Hillman and Northern Construction; and ...
Dhanraj Singh may be summoned
By CHARLEEN THOMAS, Newsday

FORMER Local Government Minister, Dhanraj Singh, has been accused of trying to influence NIPDEC’s General Manager. Margaret Thompson, not to hire Jusamco Pavers Ltd as a contractor on the Piarco airport project. As a result, he will be have the chance to appear before the Commission of Inquiry to defend himself. Commission chairman Clinton Bernard said afterwards that if the Commission had known beforehand that such evidence involving Singh would have been given, he would have conducted that part of the hearing in private. He added, however, that Thompson had done no wrong and that the evidence given by her did not relate to the matter for which Singh is now in prison, awaiting trial.

The allegation against Singh was made by Margaret Thompson at yesterday’s hearing of the inquiry at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Port-of-Spain.

Thompson was led by attorney Margaret Rose.

Thompson’s allegation against Singh was made as she explained the design construction cycle.

She was explaining an issue which arose about the award of CP 6 (land side paving). Thompson said the tenderer submitting the lowest bid would usually be accepted. She said Jusamco had sent the lowest bid for CP6, but Birk Hillman Consultants wanted to accept the second lowest bid submitted by Northern Construction Ltd (NCL) and a number of issues arose.

She said NIPDEC had strong technical grounds to object to BHC’s intention and resisted the move. She said several letters were exchanged and there were charges that the process was flawed and CP6 needed to be re-tendered.

Thompson said in the midst of the confusion, Singh, who was acting as Works and Transport Minister for Sadiq Baksh, got involved. She said he summoned her and told her he wanted her to listen to a counsellor. She said when she took the phone, the counsellor told her Jusamco had gotten into difficult problems.

Thompson said she told the person she could not continue the conversation. She said Singh then told her Jusamco was “not a good contractor”. She said she told him she could not be a part of that and left.

Admitting that “it’s a bizarre story”, Thompson said she drew the matter to the attention of Trevor Romano, a NIPDEC Director. She said she told him Singh had tried to influence her.

She said she did not bring the matter to the attention of the tenders committee, because it would have prejudiced the awarding of the contract.

However she said she made a note of the details of the meeting with Singh which she promised to produce for the Commission on Monday.

Thompson later agreed with Rose that a simple matter of evaluating a tender drew ministerial interference.

Chairman Clinton Bernard noted that if the Commission had known about the evidence implicating Singh, it would have been taken in private. He reassured Thompson that she had done nothing wrong and pointed out that most likely a summons would have to be sent for Singh.

Singh is incarcerated at the Golden Grove prison awaiting trial for murder.

Lead attorney for the Commission, Theodore Guerre, SC advised the Commission that a writ of habeas corpus might have to be issued for Singh to appear at the inquiry. NIPDEC’s attorney Christopher Hamel-Smith, asked his opinion, advised that in the precedence of fairness set by the commission, transcripts of the allegation should first be sent to Singh and he be allowed to respond before issuing a summons.

Bernard agreed and quickly pointed out that the allegation did not relate to the matter for which Singh is in prison. He said in future the Commission would consider how it approached any evidence about Singh and advised reporters to desist from making unnecessary reference to the issue.

He pointed out, “I cannot compel you to do so of course, because the way it came out was a bit of a surprise. We will give him (Singh) the opportunity to respond, not necessarily here, but this in no way affects the matter he is now involved in.”

Allegations of collusion between Birk Hillman and Northern Construction

NIPDEC’s General Manager, Margaret Thompson yesterday charged that there was collusion between Birk Hillman Consultants (BHC) and contractor Northern Construction Ltd (NCL), and although NIPDEC’s Chairman, Edward Bayley, had excused himself from the project in 1998, because of alleged conflict of interest, documents showed he signed invoices authorising US$1.1 million to BHC in 2000.

Thompson was continuing her evidence at the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco project at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Port-of-Spain.

She said there appeared to be a feud between Jusamco and NCL. She said she was told that BHC and NCL officials would tour the site of Jusamco’s work on the project, and later BHC would write Jusamco complaining of defective work.

She agreed BHC was putting pressure on Jusamco.

Thompson further said there appeared to be collusion between BHC and NCL on the cost of variations. She said they were “too close” and too many times difficulties on the site relating to NCL’s work would be explained away by BHC. She said it was as though BHC was making excuses for NCL. She pointed out that the contracts given to NCL were the ones with the most amount of variations.

Thompson further said although Bayley excused himself in 1998 from matters relating to the project, because of allegations by the Joint Consultative Council (JCC) about his conflict of interest, at least two invoices authorising payments to BHC in 2000, had Bayley’s signature.

The invoices were for work done in August and September 2000. Reading from the invoices, Thompson said the signatures of Bayley and Kenneth Critchlow, a NIPDEC Project Manager, appeared on invoices approving payments in the sums of US$530,000 and US$608,000 to BHC.

Thompson said she would usually sign the invoices, but she was sent to St Lucia and the invoices would have been sent to NIPDEC Director Trevor Romano. Asked about the relationship between Romano and Bayley, she said they were good friends having known each other for a long time and attended the same high school.

Thompson confirmed that the invoices proved that Bayley was aware of works on the project and somebody was reporting to him. She said one incident which alerted her to that, was during management’s lobby for more construction personnel on the site.

She said Bayley came to her office the next day and told her he had heard about her wanting more people on the site, but all she needed was a man, dog and gun. She said he explained, a man will do the work, the gun in case he gets jumped at nights and the dog for company. Thompson said Bayley telling her that could not have been coincidence.

Thompson will continue her evidence on Monday.