The Tribune

PLP senators were yesterday asked if government contracts worth more than $100,000 had been issued to a company owned by a man facing drug charges.

Speaking in the Senate, former Education Minister Desmond Bannister tabled questions about the number and size of contracts issued to JFK Construction and Carlos Lamm by the Ministry of Education for school repairs.

Directing his inquiries to the leader of government business, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, Mr Bannister asked for a list of all school repair contracts issued by the Ministry of Education during the summer of 2011/12, including the specific sum allocated for expenditure at each school, the names of the beneficial owners of JFK and the persons executing the contracts on behalf of that company.

Specific questions were asked of contracts issued to JFK Construction/Carlos Lamm for repairs to CI Gibson Senior High, Claridge Primary, and Mable Walker Primary School.

“Will the leader of government business inform this Senate whether it is accurate to say that contracts issued to JFK Construction/Carlos Lamm during the summer of 2012 exceeded $138,000 in total? Will the leader of government business confirm for this Senate that neither Tender Board approval nor Cabinet approval had been obtained for the issuance of contracts exceeding $138,000 to JFK Construction/Carlos Lamm prior to their issuance? Will the leader of government business confirm for this Senate that no other person was issued contracts to effect repairs to schools during the summer of 2012 exceeding the consideration of the said contracts issued to JFK Construction/Carlos Lamm?” he asked.

Senator Bannister also asked the leader of government business to confirm if Carlos Lamm had been charged with offences contrary to the Dangerous Drugs Act prior to the time the said contracts were issued to JFK Construction, and if so whether the charges were still before the courts at the time the said contracts were issued.

“Will the leader of government business please confirm that at the same time that contracts exceeding $138,000 were being issued to JFK Construction/Carlos Lamm, other school repair contracts were being issued to Bahamians for as little as $1,869.66? Will the leader of government business please inform this Senate whether any school repair contracts were issued to repair Ministry of Education, Science and Technology schools during the summer of 2012 to any public officers? Will the leader of government business please confirm that notwithstanding these difficult recessionary times, other contractors were issued multiple school repair contracts during the summer of 2012 to the total exclusion of some contractors who had previously completed summer repair contracts?” Senate Bannister asked.

Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald has already gone on the record in the House of Assembly denying any conflict of interest in the issuance of school repair contracts.

When the matter was first raised in the House of Assembly by the leader of the FNM, Dr Hubert Minnis, Minister Fitzgerald said that he was disappointed in the MP for Killarney who he said knows him well.

“He knows my mother and father extremely well. He knows that my family guards our character and integrity jealously. In fact he should be ashamed of himself for attempting to muddy up my name in this place. Had he done his homework, as he should have, he would have known that the company JFK Construction and not JFK Painting was one of the 74 companies that received contracts for repairs,” Mr Fitzgerald said in a previous sitting of the House of Assembly.

Dr Minnis had incorrectly referred to JFK Construction as JFK Painting when he asked his questions.