Moving on to other topics of national interest, the press also asked Prime Minister Briceno for his opinion on the saga between the Social Security Board and Pharmacy Express Limited.
As we told you last night, Pharmacy Express withdrew its application for a loan of 7 million from SSB after weeks of harsh criticism in the public domain. Also, as we reported, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has pointed out that the company does not have a pharmacy license to operate, and that it should not have been dispensing or supplying pharmaceuticals to the public.
If the procedures did not oblige the SSB to publish this loan application for public knowledge, the loan proceeds from the country's worker's fund would have been invested without question - indeed the SSB Investment Committee had voted unanimously in favor of it. So, what caused the SSB Investment Committee to drop the ball on due diligence? Here's how the Prime Minister bristled when we asked if they should resign:
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"As you all know, there is there's almost a firewall between the government and Social Security. That was enacted after 2004 to ensure that Social Security has a level of independence. It does not mean that they can act totally independent of the policies of the day, of the government. But it certainly means that the decision-making process is made by them. What we have seen yesterday shows or gives proof that the system is working. The Social Security Board they have an investment committee within Social Security. And then, from that, it goes on to the Social Security Investment Committee for the board that reports to the board based on that. It went through the board, and then the board decided that they would approve that loan. And then the next step now is to make it public, to get a reaction from the public. And obviously, the public, there's a lot of concerns as to why this should be approved or why it should not be approved. But the most important thing was that the Ministry of Health and Wellness realized that, hold on, this company has been operating without a license, so if they're operating without a license, then that by itself could be a reason to disqualify."
Daniel Ortiz
"What are your views on the investment committee not picking up on the fact that Pharmacy Express did not have a pharmacy license? Shouldn't they resign for what has happened? They should have done more due diligence."
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"Well, there are times that you have covered a story that was wrong, and you were not asked to resign. What you are asked is to be more careful. So, likewise, you could say it to the team that the investment team has to be more thorough in their investigation of every company that applies for monies from Social Security. So, my response is that this should be a lesson to everyone, especially and particularly the investment committee and even the Board."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, are you concerned, though, that the raid from the Ministry of Health and Wellness officials on the Fort Street Tourism Properties of Pharmacy Express could have legal implications for your government, given that the attorneys, the defense attorneys for that company have suggested that that search was illegal, in their opinion."
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"Well, I was told that when they started, they were asked for a search warrant, and they did get the search warrant, so that it is and should take care of that. But again, I'm not an attorney, so I really can't comment much about that."
