The Director of Audit has determined that the brother of former Agriculture Minister Colin McIntyre, who made off with over half a million dollars on the 2008 supply of garbage bins to the Prime Minister’s Office, used the irregular gain to finance an alleged loss of just under half a million dollars on the 2007 supply of fertilizer to the Ministry of Agriculture.
The relevant revelations in the official Audit Report for the financial year ended June 30th, 2008, depart from the norms of audit conduct and procedure to embrace fanciful speculation instead of hard facts as the basis for the Auditor’s opinion.
While the audit findings on the fertilizer and garbage bin purchases are expectedly in synch with the official statements from Government Ministers to date, Labour Party activist Clarence Christian – the Director of Audit currently facing the court on a charge of battery – went a few steps further to concoct a rationale for the unusual business conduct of supplier Andre Dopwell.
On the important question of value for money, Christian’s audit appears to have thumbed its nose at the fact that in the second of two fertilizer transactions, the state settled Mr. Dopwell’s invoice for 1,250 tons upfront and in full on November 27th, 2007 with a payment of EC$1,664,929.90.
In normal business practice anywhere else in the world that arrangement of payment in advance would have locked down the price at which the fertilizer order was invoiced especially given a mid December 2007 agreement for delivery in four shipments ending the first week of February 2008.
Yet, the audit found no fault with the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture agreed to a totally irresponsible arrangement to accept 193 tons less on the ordered quantity based on representation from Dopwell in March and May of 2008 that world market prices for fertilizer had increased.
So that even though the Ministry of Agriculture paid EC$257,065 for the 193 tons it did not receive on account of the adjustment in favour of Dopwell, Christian figured out that on the reduced shipped quantity of 1,057 tons Dopwell made a loss of EC$484,494 (US$178,326).
The loss appears to have been calculated as the difference between the price invoiced and fully paid in November 2007 and Christian’s own read of 2008 world market prices.
Christian speculates that as a result of this loss (created in hindsight by his audit), Dopwell may have used money subsequently paid to him in May 2008 for the supply of 2,700 garbage bins to offset the alleged fertilizer loss.
Consequently, according to Christian “garbage bins of much less intrinsic value than what was quoted on the invoice and actually paid for was shipped to the Office of the Prime Minister without the payment of freight cost as was required, hence causing clearing delays from the local port…”
The Prime Minister directed Christian to join Cabinet Secretary Felix Gregoire in an investigation of the garbage bin matter.
Christian accepted the Prime Minister’s direction, but it is unclear whether he ever worked with Gregoire in the probe as requested.
It is also unclear whether Christian was guided in his audit by the legitimate expectation that the public interest is paramount to the private interest of Dopwell, whose business practice conduct in these matters remains questionable at best.
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All I can say on the matter is that I am glad this director of audit does not work for me or I think I would be bankrupt, this entire episode is the biggest load of of unethical business practise I have ever heard of,
when goods are paid for at a price invoiced that is a binding contract and should have no bearing on a different order that was equally suspect, never have I ever heard such nonesence ever, and if they think that such an uneducated load of irresponsible spin will wash then they deserve the ridicule that they so amply merit.
we need protecting from these people for if this is the standard of audit then the government is in a bad way for permitting the release of such garbage have they no sence, do they think we are that daft to swallow this, the report has but one place that is suitable for it and that is in one of the very substandard bins that Dopwell cahrged us so much for
It is unbelievable that in this day and age, a so called Director of Audit would try to cover up what is obviously a BLATANT ACT OF "MISAPPROPRIATION" OF THE State's resources by the very persons who have been elected to GUARD our Finances. In any truly Democratic society, the DIRECTOR OF AUDIT would be fired, and charged with being an accomplice along with the main Perpetrators of this FRAUD !
What is even more unbelievable & FRIGHTENING, is the "Deafening silence of the so called Moral Majority, especially the newly implimented IPO Commission, who are supposed to ensure that PUBLIC SERVANTS act with INTEGRITY & ACCOUNTABILITY.
Dominicans need to be reminded in the words of Pastor B J Joseph, when he said "EVIL CAN ONLY PREVAIL, WHEN GOOD MEN REMAIN SILENT !!!
Bojangles very well said you covered it all, it is an outrage this administratoion wrongly consider, that we are all iliterate, brain dead, and daft, the only way I feel that can can put an end to this gross insult to our inteligence is via the ballot box, they will never give any refund whatsoever.
for if they do it will leave such a banking paper trail that it would reveal too much so thay can not ever do it. thay have to be removed from office urgently, in fact removed from political life for ever,
It is sad that even Pastor B. J tongue cut! Maybe it is because he there trying to rack up as much earthly riches as possible by any means necessary, just like the PM!