Justice Lennox Deyalsingh said yesterday that he was not at all surprised at the findings of fraud and abuse of public funds in the Robert Lindquist forensic investigations into the award of contracts in the Piarco Development Project.

Deyalsingh who conducted a Government inquiry into the matter in 1997 found one of the contractors, Ishwar Galbaransingh of Northern Construction guilty of unethical conduct and called for an end to the contracts that had been awarded.

Yesterday he told Newsday that from the very beginning it was obvious that something was very wrong with the tendering process, and the award of contracts for the Piarco development.

Following the Deyalsingh report which was tabled in Parliament on April 25, 1997, Galbaransingh filed for judicial review. Parliament took the unusual decision to release the report so that Deyalsingh could use it in court. Deyalsingh won his case before Justice Margot Warner who, while not commenting on Deyalsingh's finding, ruled that Galbaransingh was not given the opportunity to defend himself.