Stanley Leslie – on this newscast we used to call him the car czar – but really, he was the head of the Musa administration’s Vehicle Care Unit. And in the days leading up to the elections he became a lightning rod for UDP corruption charges, particularly in the “Corruption Watch” series of ads. But it seems that what Leslie was accused of, he was not guilty of. He had been accused of signing off on the sale of two bulldozers for a pittance. But documents provided to 7NEWS show that he in fact did not sign off on them, the Financial Secretary, Joe Waight did.
The bulldozers in this case were sold to PUP insider William ‘Silky’ Stewart for a total of $70,000 with another $12,000 in duty. On January 23rd that transaction was again signed off on by Fin. Sec. Joe Waight, not Leslie as had been alleged. On February first, Bill Lindo got an even better deal: one pneumatic roller and two vibrator rollers for a combined $32,000 with another $5,000 plus payable in duty – again signed off on by the Financial Secretary.
Today, CEO in the Ministry of Works Cadet Henderson commented on the
general state of affairs with the equipment at the Ministry of Works.
Cadet Henderson, CEO – Ministry of Works
“Well definitely there is no secret that some of our bulldozers, at least two of our bulldozers were sold to one individual. There have been other equipment that have been sold as well including one concrete batching plant and other equipment that were not in use but that had the potential for us to restore and put to good service. This is still being investigated. In terms of a full assessment of all that has gone missing. Only this morning I had discussions with one Peter Tycrow who had possession of at least six pieces of equipment belonging to the Ministry of Works, many of which were sold while at his private garage. So there is a lot of research we need to do to clearly understand what is still ours and what is now in the hands of someone else.”
Keith Swift,
Most of these sales, they indicate that the items are non-serviceable. Do you know that to be the case?
Cadet Henderson,
“I think most of the heavy equipment that we’ve seen on the list in terms of identifying their VIN numbers were either under repair or scheduled to be repaired or service. But I can’t say definitively that they weren’t some things sold that may have been in use.”
Henderson added that it will cost $13.5 million to re-stock the ministry of works with a basic fleet of heavy machinery for road works.
