Last night, we gave you an overview of the report from the Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Sale of Government Assets in the waning days of the Barrow Administration.
When the commission was announced, the public cheered the new government because they were supposedly holding the former government to account for dirty deeds done cheap.
But clean victories are hard to come by in politics, and the final report is under scrutiny from the opposition tonight. They claim that government used an important oversight mechanism to make a play for political gain at the cost of natural justice.
We've had a chance to review the document, and there are some important findings of note. The Commission has focused on important gaps in oversight connected to the disposal of government assets.
On that matter, the report says, quote, "It was manifest from the very beginning of the inquiry that neither the former Prime Minister... nor the Financial Secretary could identify any applicable regulations governing the entry into... contracts... for the sale of government assets...
It is clear from the evidence before the Commission that none of the tendering process required by the Finance and Audit Reform Act was in fact followed.
All 112 sales of motor vehicles during the relevant period, disclosed by the Financial Secretary, were effected in breach of the provisions of... the Finance and Audit Reform Act because none of the required tendering procedures were followed in effecting any of the sales."
Nobody could provide a simple list of the motor vehicles that were in fact owned by the Government... Not only did the government not know the extent of its fleet, but had no record of its value. End quote.
Then, the Commission makes an interesting conclusion saying, quote, "The violation of financial laws... was so routine that the Former Prime Minister... and the Financial Secretary were candid in describing in detail an informal practice of selling motor vehicles... that not only constituted flagrant violations of the law but which also very likely constituted actionable criminal offenses at the material times...
There was financial mismanagement of the sale of motor vehicles... which resulted... in several instances, to what amounts to the gifting of public assets to favored public officials... End quote.
So, who does the report point to as the former officials who allegedly benefitted from the questionable disposal of Government assets? Well in paragraph 18, the Commission names several individuals including the UDP's Hugo Patt, Michael Peyrefitte, Anthony "Boots" Martinez, Frank "Papa" Mena, and even Godwin Hulse, among others.
This morning, we got an opportunity to speak with Former Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte, who currently serving as the UDP's lead Senator and Party Chairman. He told us that in his opinion this report has no credibility. In a sit-down interview, he insisted that the findings were "foolishness":
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - UDP Senator
"Foolishness, but my first response to it is this. You have crime that is spiraling out of control continuously. You have a sugar industry that is on the brink of collapse. You have a Health Ministry that is a disaster. And then, you have me, writing the Minister of Finance asking him to explain to me 15 million dollars, and nobody seems to be able to know where it went. Naturally, you will announce during the week that you're coming with some bogus Commission of Inquiry findings, and naturally, on the day that the UDP has its press conference to illuminate these things, you're going to have Cabinet release the findings of this Commission of Inquiry. My first reaction: this is a red herring. This is a distraction, and this is foolishness. When you have a Commission of Inquiry talking about - take 2 Ministers. Take Minister Hulse and Minister Mena. When they say that 2 people more likely than not - may have been. Huh, come on, man. That's a Commission of Inquiry finding to you? All this is, is work done by that particular Commission, with a biased chairman to try and smear people from the Opposition to take the attention off what they're not doing, and put it on us. So, it's absolutely bogus. It's absolutely a red herring, and they have just invited some court applications, based on that they're saying there in that Commission of Inquiry. In my view, It should be quashed because it's full of foolishness. That's my first reaction to it, and you in the media - for example - inviting us to us to talk about that is exactly what the Government wants. They don't want me to talk about the fact that the Prime Minister can't explain to me where 15 million dollars went. They don't want to talk about the sugar industry debacle. They don't want you to talk about crime. They want you to talk about this, and as usual, the media always falls for the bait."
