The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

AFTER an Auditor General’s report into the Travel Health Visa programme found that contracts were not executed in accordance with the law, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said further investigations on those findings will continue.

“I think our concerns expressed while in opposition about the travel visa and how it was implemented (are) now being manifested in what the report reveals,” Mr Davis told reporters on the sidelines of an event yesterday.

“It doesn’t end there. I’m advised that further investigations on those findings will continue and we’ll see where it leads.”

In the report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, the Auditor General found that the contracts for the health visa were not executed in accordance with the Financial Regulations 1975, which requires that all contracts for supplies, workers and services by the government in excess of $250,000 be approved by Cabinet. There was no competitive bidding and services initially began with a verbal agreement only, not written contracts. Tourism officials justified this by emphasising time constraints.

However, Auditor General Terrance Bastian did not uncover evidence of fraud or grave mismanagement.

 Still, Mr Davis was asked if authorities or police will get involved in the investigation.

 He said: “That will be a matter for the investigators to determine, where it ends up, but wherever the chips fall, there it will land.”

 Asked for more detail about the scope of the investigation, he said: “We have the Auditor General’s report and it’s now being reviewed by the technocrats in the Ministry of Finance. They’ll then determine whether they need to bring in a specific outside auditor or just from what the auditor’s findings are, have inquiries taken up from those issues that arose.”

 The Progressive Liberal Party criticised the Minnis administration’s decision to give a no-bid contract to Kanoo for the travel visa programme last summer. The party previously highlighted the company’s association with Dr Nigel Lewis, the co-manager of the Free National Movement’s general election campaign.

 The Auditor General’s report also found some discrepancies in accounting records for the programme and concluded the Ministry of Tourism opened a Bank of the Bahamas account with payment processing company Kanoo in contravention of the law, which requires that the Minister of Finance approve any such action that involves public funds.

 However, the Office of the Auditor General also commended the Ministry of Tourism for its implementation of the Travel Health Visa.

 Mr Bastian offered rare commendation in his report, saying: “We want to commend the Ministry of Tourism for its vision and implementation of the Bahamas Health Travel Visa. It assisted The Bahamas in monitoring the movement of people travelling during the pandemic. During such extraordinary times government needs to be creative, flexible without jeopardising good governance (transparency and accountability).”

 Meanwhile, issues have emerged recently surrounding the Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA). Former DRA Managing Director Katherine Forbes-Smith filed a lawsuit seeking damages for alleged breach of contract. DRA Executive Chairman Alex Storr previously said an accounting firm will forensically audit the authority after an operational review found many signs of mismanagement.

 Regarding the government’s position on the DRA moving forward, Mr Davis said “that is under review.”

 “I find that there’s been duplications of efforts between NEMA, DRA, and other agencies that’s charged with responsibility for disaster preparedness, reconstruction, and recovery and we’re trying to collapse all those in. So an ongoing exercise is now being undertaken to determine the usefulness of all these agencies….”

 Mr Davis was also asked about former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ characterisation of the PLP as corrupt and greedy. With the Minnis administration’s actions now being reviewed, the current Prime Minister said he thinks what has been revealed “speaks for itself as to how hypocritical they were when they were in power.”

 “I think what we said about it and what we continue to say, even while in opposition, we call them hypocrites. We understood what they were doing and they were not transparent at all and still not being transparent because there’s still a lot of things that we are still trying to uncover and not being able to uncover. I think what is being revealed now speaks for itself as to what, how hypocritical they were when they were in power,” Mr Davis said.