Questions still linger on procurement of vessel—Devant
Reacting to Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s disclosures on the purchase of a new vessel for the seabridge, former Transport Minister Devant Maharaj accused Imbert of continuing to “obfuscate the issue without clarifying the core issues surrounding the procurement of the new ferry.”
Maharaj said Imbert’s statement left the door open for speculation that a financier of the ruling party or a PNM Minister recommended the vessel.
On Wednesday, Maharaj wrote to the Integrity Commission calling for an investigation into the procurement process used to acquire the new vessel.
While Imbert said the procurement process is being done by NIDCO, Maharaj said it appeared from what the inter-ministerial team, headed by Imbert, did the procurement process was also skewed because “identification of a vessel is an integral part of the procurement process.”
He said the ministerial committee having identified and selected a vessel to be purchased raised questions as to “what exact procurement process did the National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (NIDCO) undertake?”
He has also questioned why there was “no tender by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to purchase a vessel as was done when it wanted to lease a vessel.”
Maharaj said there were a number of questions which the Minister failed to address including:
… more
Image: Via Tsuji (flickr)