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The bid process that resulted in an award of a contract worth $183 million to a company named Calmaquip for the supply of specialty equipment for Piarco Airport development project was described as "flawed" by the Robert Lindquist investigations, the interim report of which is in the hands of the Government.
Lindquist recommended further investigation of the matter and raised questions about a deposit account held by the Airports Authority of TT in the Cayman Islands.
The $183 million, the report said was almost 100 percent higher than the budget.
The report further stated that the procurement plan for CP-13 which was awarded to Calmaquip, dated September 1999, stated that the "successful proponent will be responsible for the procurement, manufacturing and installation of the equipment, and will finance the equipment.
Although the financial proposal of Calmaquip was scored 20 out of 20 by the Ministry of Finance, the CP-13 was financed not by Calmaquip, but instead by the Dresdner Bank Lateinamerika AG, Miami whose client is the Airports Authority of TT.
Their loan was backed by guarantees from both the EXIM Bank and the Republic of TT. The report quoted a Cabinet note of January 24, 2000, which stated that "the original cost of the project was TT$740,878,700 while the total final cost was estimated at TT$919,664,130 which sum includes all proposed construction, the accelerated programme, all Birk Hillman fees and NIPDEC's fees".
Lindquist remarked: "In the course of our review we found a complete lack of control over the disbursement of funds from the AATT to Calmaquip.
''Neither AATT nor BHC accept responsibility for ensuring the quality of the delivery of specialty equipment. The Manager Finance at AATT claimed not to be in possession of any bank statements of the loan, but has copies of individual debit notes pertaining to equipment deliveries.
''On the other hand he did provide bank statements for a deposit account of AATT that is located in the Grand Cayman. No Explanation was offered as to why this account was in Grand Cayman.''
The Lindquist Report found the Airport project was a fraud on the public of TT and an abuse of public funds.
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