IC: Petrojam splintered contract to politician’s company to allow direct engagement

The Integrity Commission (IC) has raised questions about Petrojam Limited’s engagement of a company established by Robert Phillip Chin in April 2017, which has received several contracts through direct contracting.

A former vice-president of G2K, the young professionals arm of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, Chin unsuccessfully contested the Kingston Central seat against the People’s National Party’s Ronald Thwaites in 2016.

Chin established the company, ASC Business Services, later and within a month, it began receiving contracts from Petrojam.

He was elected the member of parliament for Manchester Southern in September 2020.

The Integrity Commission, in a special report of investigation into conflicts of interest and corruption in the award of certain contracts by Petrojam, pointed out that Ronique Budram-Ford, the former head of the procurement unit at the state-owned oil refinery, played a role in the procurement process for the award of contract to ASC Business Services.

Further, IC Director of Investigations Kevon Stephenson said that he has seen evidence which indicates that Rishka Budram, the sister of Budram-Ford, who also has a child for Chin, is associated with and acted on behalf of ASC Business Services.

The commission reported that for the periods May 2017 to October 2017 and February 2018 to June 2018, procurement activities were issued by Petrojam Limited to ASC Business Services every month.

“With respect to the 14 contracts which were awarded by Petrojam Limited to ASC Business Services, the director of investigations notes that in at least nine instances: a) the dates on which the bidding document was issued, b) the bid submission deadline and, c) the date on which the bid quotation was submitted were the same,” the commission reported.

The anti-corruption body pointed out that all contracts awarded to ASC Business Services were through direct contracting, and that they received the requisite endorsements and approvals by the then general manager, Floyd Grindley.

Budram-Ford said that based on the recommendation of Grindley, the unit commenced dealing with ACS Business Services on or around May 2017.

She is reported to have said that owing to the fact that all contracts with Petrojam fell below the threshold of $1.5 million, direct contracting was permitted.

ON-TIME DELIVERIES

Budram-Ford has also indicated that the company always delivered on time, while meeting Petrojam’s expectations as to scheduling, pricing and quality.

But Stephenson argued that having regard to the fact that Petrojam issued four contracts to ASC Business Services on June 8, 12, and 13, 2017, for the provision of memorabilia, he has reasonable grounds to conclude that the procurement activities were undertaken to “splinter” the contract.

“The director of investigation’s conclusion is premised on the fact that if a single contract had been awarded, the cumulative value would have exceeded the $1,500,000.00 threshold, thereby invoking the utilisation of the limited-tender procurement methodology, which would require a minimum of three quotations,” he said.

Stephenson also argued that the frequency of the requests for procurement of memorabilia demonstrates the absence of a procurement plan and effective scheduling of procurement activities, as required by the Government of Jamaica Handbook of Public Sector Procurement Procedures and contravenes the guidelines.

Stephenson accused Grindley and Budram-Ford of the “common-law offence of misconduct in public office” and breaches of the Corruption (Prevention) Act.

Other breaches cited by the Integrity Commission include contravention of the 2014 Government of Jamaica Handbook of Public Sector Procurement Procedures and breaches of the Contractor General Act – Public Sector Procurement Regulations 2008.

Stephenson referred both Grindley and Budram-Ford to the director of corruption prosecution for “such further action, as deemed appropriate”.