And while Cervantes is clueless about J & J, Jules Vasquez found an interesting pattern when looking at the top four companies supplying the BDF: all of them were registered after the PUP was elected in 2020.
Here's his latest investigative report:
J&J Food Imports, A&Y Fresh Vegetables, and Kukulcan Company, they were the top three suppliers of rations to the BDF in 2023-2024.
But were these companies simply set up to cream off the BDF supply chain?
J&J Imports was registered in May of 2022, A&Y Fresh Vegetables registered in April of 2021, and Kukulcan, with its links direct to the Minister of Defence, established 17/03/2021.
And of course, trailing at a distant fourth, MP Farms, owned by Stanley Mira, according to this, established September of 2023.
So were these companies simply set up to profit off their proximity to ministerial power?
This Minister of State says no:
Reporter-
"What is your relation to Enrique and Jamir Requena from J&J Imports?"
Ramon Cervantes, Minister of State Education
"Enrique? I know Jamir Requena, he is my second cousin, he is the son of my cousin."
Reporter-
"Were you instrumental in them receiving any contracts with the Ministry of Defense?"
Ramon Cervantes, Minister of State Education
"No, not at all, not at all. I have nothing to do with that."
Reporter-
"So you have no involvement in them getting the supply arrangement? They are the owners of J&J Imports."
Ramon Cervantes, Minister of State Education
"No, I had no involvement in that at all, at all."
Reporter-
"Did you speak to Minister Marin to give them a boost with the supply?"
Ramon Cervantes, Minister of State Education
"No, I didn't speak to him."
Reporter-
"J&J Imports was registered on May 3rd, 2022 by your relatives, the Requenas. Was the company established to benefit the BDF supply contracts?"
Ramon Cervantes, Minister of State Education
"I don't know."
Reporter-
"We are told that you are being considered to be assigned the then Minister of Defence portfolio but the Prime Minister decided against it because of your connection with J&J Imports, which is a top supplier to the BDF. Is this true?"
Ramon Cervantes, Minister of State Education
"I don't know if I was being considered and I have no connection with J&J."
And while Minister Monchie says he had no connection, J&J was certainly on the fast track. Screenshots we have received show only a fraction of the payments made to the company and its owner, Enrique Requena.
We have only 195 records out of almost 1,500 in the SmartStream. The total volume traded is 1.4 million dollars, but, again, this is only about an eighth of the total records available. So it's a fair projection that the total recorded is over 10 million dollars in revenue from government business.
But even this small sample shows the same pattern: almost all the payments, 98% in this group, are under $10,000.
The highest total payout amount: October 12, 2022, $99,300.93 across 5 transactions.
On July 21, 2022, there was the highest transaction count: 13 back-to-back transactions, totaling $86,374.21.
And we know that in 2023/2024, J&J was the second largest supplier to the BDF, with 24% of the pie. The paperwork shows they were averaging revenue of more than a quarter-million dollars every month, translating to $3.02 million in annual earnings.
This large take comes out of an overall BDF budget that expanded rapidly, ballooning from $9.1 million in the previous year to $12.4 million.
The question is what drove it to balloon in 2023/2024, was it to provide public pork to preferred companies, or was it for soldiers to dine on conch and lobster?
The tender shows that the BDF supplies included baby back ribs, conch, fish filet, lobster, and shrimp, whether soldiers got to eat that is another question.
We note that another top supplier, Mira's Fresh Fruits and Veggies, was registered in April of 2022.
