Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran yesterday said that a sub-committee of Cabinet should not be reviewing the controversial deal for a pharmaceuticals bond as it was Cabinet which had been reported to have had made the decision in the first place.

In a comment to Stabroek News, Goolsarran said:

“While I welcome the decision of the President to review the rental agreement for the storage of drugs and medical supplies, I am equally disappointed that a sub-committee of Cabinet has been charged with the responsibility of doing so. It was the same Cabinet that approved of the arrangement in the first place. The public is likely to find it hard to accept the results of the review if the Ministry of Health is exonerated.

“It is my sincere hope that the President will reconsider his decision and appoint an independent and competent three-person committee to look into the matter and report back to him”, Goolsarran said.

The good governance advocate also challenged an assertion by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo connected to the same matter.

“The Opposition Leader made a statement that the New GPC was selected (during the PPP/C’s term in office) on the basis of a pre-qualification exercise and that it was not a question of sole sourcing. I respectfully beg to disagree.

The results of the pre-qualification, apart from being biased in favour of New GPC, indicated that only one company was prequalified. That company was New GPC. To this extent, I have no doubt in my mind that it is sole sourcing, disguised as the results of a pre-qualification exercise”, Goolsarran declared.

The APNU+AFC government’s single sourcing of businessman Lawrence Singh to provide a bond for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies has raised questions about who in the administration made the initial connection with Singh. The businessman had not been known to provide such a service before.

Yesterday, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman admitted that Health Minister Dr George Norton had misled Parliamnent and the government has told Norton to apologise.

Last evening the PPP/C kept up the pressure on the government over the deal. PPP/C MP Charles Ramson Jr issued a series of reservations about yesterday’s report which Trotman spoke about at a press conference.

Ramson said:

1. None of the recommendations actually say that the contract should be terminated. There is only a recommendation to review the contract.
2. The report recommended that the Attorney General review the contract. How could a contract which was approved by cabinet be reviewed by one of the persons who is a member of cabinet and who partook in the decision to approve the contract?
3. The first recommendation makes reference to money owing to the New GPC Inc. This was not what the Minister said in Parliament. Ramson Jr said it was stated that the sum of $19m was paid to the New GPC Inc. “This is, therefore, an admission that the Minister’s statement was untrue. In addition, this was not the most important point of report so it speaks volumes that this was indeed the first recommendation”, he added.
4. Since the contract was approved by the cabinet why is the Minister of Health being made a sacrificial anode with a recommendation that he makes a public apology?

It was approved by the cabinet the responsibility is, therefore, that of the cabinet and the President who chairs cabinet, Ramsom Jr asserted.