The Garbage Bin Bobol – Tony Astaphans Lies, Deception and Progaganda

The Garbage Bin Bobol

ASTAPHAN’S LIES, DECEPTION & PROPAGANDA (ALDP) VERSUS THE FACTS

ALDP: “The one allegation I questioned was the suggestion that the company (Logistical Supply Solutions) did not exist. I did so by referring to receipts from the National Bank which established conclusively that payment was made to the corporation… Tell me whether under USA law, post 9/11, monies can be paid to a non-existent person or corporation. I have made no other public statement on this issue.”

THE FACTS:

1. Payments for the US equivalent of EC$275,909.98 and EC$473,887.74 (total of EC$749,797.72) were made to Dopwell/Logistical Supply Solution by wire transfer from the National Bank of Dominica (NBD) on May 09, 2008.
   
2. Even though the National Bank named Logistical Supply Solutions as the beneficiary, the funds were transferred into the same personal account number 5300752184 at Susquehana Patriot Bank in Pottstown Pennsylvania used by Dopwell for receipt of payment for fertilizer sold to the Skerrit administration in February 2007.
   
3. The person exists… the corporation does not. Logistical Supply Solutions is a bogus, paper company with no bank account in its name utilized by Dopwell and others as part of a scheme to siphon money out of the Dominica treasury into private hands.

ALDP: “I maintain that the Government paid for these bins for and on behalf of the RTC. The invoice was presented to the Minister by the RTC. This is my information. The Prime Minister did not negotiate any transaction. A ministry is entitled to rely on documents and information from a statutory board. However, it is clear that these 32 gallon bins are not worth 102 USD for one. Something is therefore wrong and we need to know what this is.”

THE FACTS:

1. What is wrong is that Roosevelt Skerrit, acting in the capacity of Prime Minister and Minister of Finance is either grossly incompetent or extremely corrupt in that he committed the state to pay three quarters of a million dollars on garbage bins without the benefit of a product sample, supplier due diligence, public tender or competitive bidding.
2. The Roseau City Council, according to the minutes of its meetings (prior to or during this garbage bin scandal), never discussed the acquisition of garbage bins and never agreed to request that government should purchase any bins on behalf of the council. From all accounts, this garbage bin scandal is between Roosevelt Skerrit, Cecil Joseph (the Mayor) and Andre Dopwell
3. The invoice for 2,700 residential garbage bins at US$102.19 per, dated April 22, 2008, was addressed to the Prime Minister’s office with a clear indication that the bins were to be delivered to the Prime Minister’s Office.
4. The product description used on the invoice “residential garbage bins” was non-specific and gave no indication of the size or the type of bin to be purchased.
5. At the time (March 09, 2008) that the treasury shelled out the US equivalent of EC$749,797.72 to Andre Dopwell, no one knew what exactly Mr. Skerrit had committed the state to pay for.
6. On May 13, 2009, four days after receiving the money into his personal account, Andre Dopwell posted a request on tradekey.com for quotations to supply 32 gallon bins CIF Dominica.
7. All the quotations available on Tradekey.com at that time were significantly lower than US$102.19 per Roughneck 32 GAL Non-Wheeled refuse bin from Rubbermaid.
8. If there was an error with the invoiced price presented before the request on Trade Key, it could have been corrected with an appropriate refund of the amounts charged in excess of the chosen price on Trade Key. There was no refund.
9. There was no budgetary allocation for this expenditure in the 2007/2008 financial year and the amount was not included in provisions for the 2008/2009 period either. Instead, the prime minister’s office approved and processed payment to Dopwell on the basis of a blatantly inflated invoice, clearly designed to steal money from the public purse

ALDP: “Therefore, I have decided to wait on the Cabinet Secretary and Director of Audit before I cast any imputation of corruption or misconduct on any person… I accept the premise that an inquiry into any governmental matter must begin with senior public servants. Also, if there is to be an “independent” inquiry, it is the Prime Minister and Cabinet who must decide… Unless expressly conferred by Law, the President can only act on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. It will be for the Prime Minister and Cabinet to select an investigator and his terms of reference.”

THE FACTS:

1. The senior public servant asked to begin the inquiry into this government matter is the very accounting officer in the Prime Minister’s office who oversaw the overspending of more than half a million dollars on the garbage bins and found nothing wrong with it.
2. The Prime Minister who is supposed to lead Cabinet in the decision to advise the President that there should be an “independent inquiry” is the same Prime Minister and Minister of Finance who defiantly authorized the overspending of more than half a million dollars on the garbage bins, (without a budgetary allocation) and subsequently laundered the transaction in a supplementary appropriation passed with government’s majority in parliament in October 2008.
3. It is not the intention of the Constitution that the President should wait for the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to advise that an independent inquiry should be set up into a matter that involves the Prime Minister as a leading participant. If the President is incapable of providing Constitutional protection for the people from such glaring Prime Ministerial conflicts of interest, then Presidency is as useless as it is impotent in the public interest.

On Monday May 25^th, 2009, Astaphan’s belligerently delivered promise was that on Tuesday May 26^th, 2009 at 7:30 am, he would deal “decisively and fully” with the “utter nonsense” about garbage bin bobol being disseminated against his Prime Minister.

Now he says: “I am prepared to wait until all facts are known instead of joining… in this rush to judgment…”

Rush to judgment more than one year after the fact?

Come down ALBA and the intrepid Ali Baba!