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The following is the continuation of a statement issued by Contractor General Greg Christie relating to an investigation into alleged contract breaches involving Government Member of Parliament Everald Warmington. The first part was published yesterday.

Accordingly, the Office of the Contractor General's (OCG) Special Investigation, herein, will enquire into the following issues, among others:

1. The particulars of the contract-award activities of the St Catherine Parish Council and whether the circumstances which surrounded the award of contracts, by the council, to Strathairn Construction Company Limited complied, inter alia, with the provisions and/or requirements of:

a. The Contractor General Act, 1983, and, in particular, whether the award of the contracts was impartial, based upon merit and was premised upon circumstances which did not involve impropriety and/or irregularity;

b. The applicable government procurement procedures;

c. The Financial Administration and Audit Act; and

d. The Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act.

2. A review of the procedures and processes which led to the recommendations for the award of the referenced contracts to Strathairn Construction Company Limited;

3. A determination of the extent of the ownership, operations and/or management involvement, if any, of Mr Everald Warmington, MP, in Strathairn Construction Company Limited;

4. A determination of the extent of the involvement, if any, of Mr Everald Warmington, MP, in the facilitation, recommendation and/or award of any Government of Jamaica contract which has been awarded to Strathairn Construction Company Limited;

5. The extent, if any, of the involvement of officers/officials of the St Catherine Parish Council in informing and/or influencing the recommendation for the award of contracts to Strathairn Construction Company Limited;

6. A determination as to whether there is any evidence that Section 14 of the Corruption Prevention Act has been contravened;

7. A determination as to whether there is any evidence that Section 40 (2) (c) of the Constitution of Jamaica has been contravened by Mr Everald Warmington.

Section 40 (2) (c) of the Constitution imposes an important disclosure qualification whenever a person who seeks to be elected to the House of Representatives orappointed to the Senate is also a party to a Government contract or is a partner in a firm or a director or manager of a company which, to his knowledge, is party to a Government contract. In substance, the section provides that no such person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the House if he has not previously disclosed the nature of such contract and his interest or the interest of such firm or company therein, by publishing a notice in the Gazette within one month before the day of the election.

The certified QCA reports, which were submitted to the OCG by the St Catherine Parish Council for the second and third quarters of 2007, have disclosed that the following contracts were awarded to Strathairn Construction Company Limited during the referenced periods: April 10, 2007, contract in the sum of $3.73 million; July 25, 2007, contract in the sum of $1.52 million. It is not known when either contract was completed. The 2007 general election was held on September 3, 2007. Mr Warmington was listed as a director of Strathairn Construction Company Limited up to and including August 30, 2007.

Pursuant to Sections 15 (1) and 16 of the Contractor General Act, a contractor general is empowered, at his own discretion, to conduct an investigation into any or all of the following matters:

a. the registration of contractors;

b. the tender procedures relating to contracts awarded by public bodies;

c. the award of any government contract;

d. the implementation of the terms of any government contract;

e. the circumstances of the grant, issue, use, suspension or revocation of any prescribed licence;

f. the practice and procedures relating to the grant, issue, suspension or revocation of prescribed licences.

You should also be guided by the provisions which are embodied in sections 4, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 28 and 29 of the act.

The OCG's investigation team in this matter will be headed by Ms Latoya Harris, the OCG senior special investigator, who will be directly responsible to me for the conduct of the investigation.

Ms Harris will communicate, in due course, with certain officers and officials of the St Catherine Parish Council, as well as other persons of interest, inclusive of Mr Everald Warmington, MP, to advise them of the investigation process and the statutory requisitions which the OCG will be making of them in pursuit of the conduct of its special investigation.

Given the gravity of the allegations which have been made in this matter and, in particular, the implications of same as regards Member of Parliament Mr Everald Warmington, I am, by way of copy of this letter, notifying him of the referenced allegations and the OCG's investigation therein.