And from politics to the public service, two weeks ago we told you about the letter which leaked out of the Ministry of Transport. It saw the new CEO, Adele Catzim Sanchez writing to the Chief Transport Officer Dian Vasquez asking for accountability in the disbursement of 109 thousand dollars to a company named The Sign Factory for license plates.
Catzim-Sanchez asked "This Ministry would like to know what procurement practices were utilized, as it relates to compliance with the Financial Orders, Stores Orders…and if the pertinent request for Local Purchase Approval was submitted as stipulated…."
She urged Vasquez to "provide a copy of the approval received for the procurement of the licence plates for the Transport Department."
It's not her first time around the block as a CEO - so we trust that Catzim Sanchez knew where she was coming from. But, somewhat surprisingly, yesterday she told PLUS TV - it was all a big mix-up:
Adele Catzim Sanchez, CEO, Ministry of Transport
"The letter really didn't implicate anything. I think that people may have misread the intention of the letter. The letter was simply to ask for documentation for a payment. But there was a process that was in place even before I went, that allowed for the payments to be made. It was just for me since I'm new to ask for the paperwork so that I can be assured that everything followed due process."
"The paperwork was there, because there was an urgency, a real serious urgency in making sure that we serve the public with the license plates and with the stickers. And so when there is an urgency there is different procurement practices that are applied and so we did follow the protocols to be able to make sure that we could draw down on the funds which were already approved by the government. We drew down on the funds and I was just simply asking for the information so that I can have it for documentation purposes, but there is no implication that anything untoward or different actually was occurring within the ministry."
Reporter
"Were those documents provided to you?"
Adele Catzim Sanchez, CEO, Ministry of Transport
"Yes, we have the documentation which outlines the process from the beginning to the end."
Reporter
"Your communication with the chief transport officer was able to provide all the documentation to you and all of that was cleared up?"
Adele Catzim Sanchez, CEO, Ministry of Transport
"She was out of the country at the time on work duty and so we have been able to collect the documentation through our finance departments."
Reporter
"Is there any particular reason why you guys decided to go with that company? There are speculations being made that the company is owed by someone related to Minister Ferguson."
Adele Catzim Sanchez, CEO, Ministry of Transport
"I have no knowledge of any of that. What I do know is that there were 3 bids which is the process. The bids were reviewed based on the samples that were provided and the bid that had the best price and the best quality was selected."
We have asked the Minister various times to comment on the letter - but he has refused to entertain our requests for interviews.
