And when we met with the Minister of the Public Service today we asked him for some transparency on the government payouts to Mira family members for fruits and vegetables.
We have seen more than 500 of them - all under 10,000 dollars.
We asked Henry Usher what he knows about the public officer that helped to facilitate those Smart Stream payments.
Reporter-
"Sir, back to the structuring question-the structuring of payments. The public wants accountability, and thus far, all the officials that we have spoken to are not giving us that, including you saying that you do not know who the public officer or the finance officer is. What can you tell the public will be done to get to the bottom of it, considering that there is a circular against such a thing which can constitute money laundering?"
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of the Public Service
"Well, I think that you are drawing conclusions that are not fair by what you just said. Number one, I said I don't know who the finance officer is. I could find out who the finance officer is. This is the first time I've been asked who the finance officer is. Number two, it is a procedure that is allowable in the public service. There has to be a threshold. When you're spending funds. It can't be that if you are going to buy a pen that you need to go through a procurement procedure to purchase a pen. So I'm just saying that let the investigations be carried out by the necessary, departments that will carry out the investigations. If an audit needs to be done in that particular, ministry, then let the audit be carried out. But I can't make a prejudgment today standing when that has not been done yet."
