PAAC to question Security Ministry officials in camera over police used car contract

Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner Writer

Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) on Wednesday spent close to 50 minutes haggling about the committee’s role in the probe of the controversial police used car contract before agreeing to a May 30 sitting which will be closed to the media.

O'Brien’s International Car Sales and Rental Ltd was awarded a $400 million contract by the National Security Ministry to procure 200 used vehicles for the police.

That contract, according to the Ministry, is now terminated, and the matter is being investigated by the Police Fraud Squad and the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency.

"As far as I am aware, the matter was not a criminal matter but a civil one, and a civil remedy would be sought to get back outstanding monies. If the police are now involved then it suggests that something criminal has occurred and the taxpayers need to know why it is now a criminal matter,” committee chair, Dr Wykeham McNeill told The Gleaner.

IN PHOTO: Wykeham McNeill

At the start of the meeting, McNeill conferred with members about the way forward, following a letter from the National Security Ministry.

The letter said, inter alia, that the matter was being investigated by the police and they did not wish to prejudice the investigation by public comments.

All government members of the committee, except Leslie Campbell, sided with the position offered by the Ministry of National Security to delay its appearance to allow sufficient time for the completion of the investigation.

However, no one was willing to say how much time was enough. 

The legal advice offered to the committee was that, irrespective of the investigations underway, it was not the choice of the ministry whether to appear before the committee.

Government members continued their support for the non-appearance, and after more than three quarters of an hour, the discussion was postponed for the invited guests from the Finance Ministry, the Bank of Jamaica and the Planning Institute of Jamaica to appear before the PAAC.

Close to the end of the meeting McNeill announced that a consensus had been reached and the National Security Ministry would be invited to answer questions of the committee, but the meeting would be held in camera.

O'Brien’s has failed to account for how it spent $218 million in advance payment from the Ministry of National Security to import 200 pre-owned motor vehicles for the police force, and fewer than half the number of cars have been delivered.

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