Tonight we continue our investigation into the SmartStream leak of 497 payments, primarily from the Ministry of Defence to fruits and vegetables vendor Jenny Mira between 2020 and 2025. Mira is the sister of the former Minister of State for Defence, Oscar Mira, so the records bear scrutiny.
And if all the payments were for above-board purchases, it's curious why 99% of Jenny Mira's 497 invoices fall just below the $10,000 threshold for reporting to the Ministry of Finance. Instead, they were made as "straight payments" directly from the Ministry - without need for external Ministry of Finance approval.
In his continuing review of the 47 screenshots with those hundreds of invoice entries, Jules Vasquez found a curious anomaly. Here's his story on it:
It's called a ghost dot - an extra dot at the end of an invoice number that allows it to be entered twice into a computer system which does not allow duplicate entries.
Across the 497 entries we reviewed, we saw it appear exactly 4 times.
In each case, it was used to clone an existing invoice number so the operator could push through a duplicate payout.
They first did it in 2021 with a fairly modest figure, $5,025.75 - a figure that which we should note re-appears 14 times across the entries we have seen.
On May 4th the invoice #BDF01/05/2021was entered for $5,025.75, and then, right after, the same invoice, but trailing with a single dot this time was entered again for the same amount.
So, one invoice, two payments - experts call it spoofing the system - and this CEO hadn't heard of it before:
Jules Vasquez
"Are you aware of this, of this practice of tricking the system?"
Francis Usher, CEO (2025 -) - Ministry of Defence
"I would love for you to send me proof. Especially if the proof is here in the ministry, because I, I'm not, I'm not aware of those practices. But it's a funny thing. People, people find a way to trick the system, but I am not aware of that."
When he checked with his staff, Usher told us, quote,
"At that time there were contracts awarded and this invoice submitted by the business was indeed for $10,051.50.
The FO at that time, who is no longer with the ministry, made the decision to split that invoice in 2, utilizing this period method that you highlighted.
...it is unclear why he made the decision to do so."
But to the president of the PSU it is only too clear:
Dean Flowers, President - PSU
"It is clear that there was an attempt to avoid oversight by the Treasury Department. It is clear that there was an attempt to avoid any questions being asked about the legitimacy of that payment. It is clear that there was an attempt to facilitate what could have very well been a corrupt practice."
Tellingly, the same ghost dot trick was used in 2022 but to make a payment for $9124.06 dollars, twice. And then again in late 2022, for the same amount, and then once more in 2023.
So it happened more than once across three different fiscal years for repeating dollar amounts, proving that the ghost dot was a reliable tool to override the system:
Dean Flowers, President - PSU
"They're trying to avoid that they breached the procurement process or the tendering process whereby ensuring that the evidence would show that whatever goods and services we purchase in the public or whatever goods we secure is done above board."
"The reason why the Auditor General report is saying that she can't even give an opinion Is because there is no documentation is exactly because of this kind of practice, Jules. They're paying without having any kind of documentation, they're paying based on instructions and at the end of the day there is no proof."
And another under the radar technique is the system of invoice splitting - where one invoice priced at over ten thousand dollars is cancelled and then two days later, two new ones are issued that add up to the same amount - but under than 10,000 dollar threshold.
It happened in April of 2025 - under Usher's watch - when an invoice for $18,109.27 was cancelled. Exactly 48 hours later, on April 24, it is split into two green-lighted payments of $9,270.77 and $8,838.49 - the original figure right down to a single penny.
Jules Vasquez
"Isn't this a clear suggestion of fraud and gaming the system to escape oversight?"
Francis Usher, CEO (2025 -) - Ministry of Defence
"So I'll look into that particular invoice and I'll send you a message about it. But at surface level, I can definitely see why that would be the assumption. Fraud is a is a heavy word. I don't know the details surrounding that one, but I'll find out."
Usher today told us, quote, "That particular invoice was submitted to us and the accounts staff began to process it when the vendor reached out saying they needed to review and potentially would need to edit. That's why it was cancelled.
There were then several invoices submitted a few days later."
Two separate payments, one identical total. Either a wild coincidence, or what the data shows: a systematic, well-honed strategy to dodge Treasury oversight.
Jules Vasquez
"When you see a pattern of behavior like this or a pattern of payouts like this what does it say to you?"
Dean Flowers, President - PSU
"It is saying to me that while some of those purchases may be legitimate, some may very well not be, and more importantly the procurement processes, the procurement guidelines would have been violated, the tendering process. Because if I am doing everything above board there is no need to engage in those kinds of practices."
