The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

MONTAGU MP Richard Lightbourn questioned “how the government does business” after discovering a judgment filed in the Supreme Court against Stellar Waste Management principal owner Dr Fabrizio Zanaboni.

The judgment for $73,952, Mr Lightbourn told the House yesterday, was filed on April 10, 2014, three months before it was revealed that Ministry of Works Parliamentary Secretary Renward Wells allegedly signed an unauthorised $650m letter of intent with Stellar Waste. The letter of intent (LOI) was for the construction of a waste-to-energy plant at the New Providence landfill.

Mr Lightbourn said: “I would assume that when the government enters into legal obligations with a major investor that due diligence is carried out by the government to ensure that the persons they are dealing with are fit and proper people and that they have a good record.

“When I had a search conducted of the Supreme Court registry, I noted a judgment which has been entered (against) Mr Zanaboni to the sum of $73,952. This was filed on April 10, 2014. So this is some three months prior to the letter of intent. Now it was not Stellar who the judgment was entered against, it was Mr Zanaboni.

“I would be concerned if I was (the) government to enter into an agreement with someone individually who is unable to pay his debt. I don’t know if the government is aware of this (or) whether they made any investigations or whether they just ignored it. But I would be embarrassed if they were going into an agreement like this without having done their due diligence and without having realised the affect of this judgment being on record.

“The man is the principal of the company. Clearly if the person who is the principal of a company is unable to pay his debt yet his company is going to get involved in a development (worth) $650m so you have to question how this government does business.”

It was reported more than eight weeks ago that Prime Minister Perry Christie asked Mr Wells to resign over the matter.

However, Mr Wells has not left his post nor has he publicly spoken about why he signed the letter. Since the controversy broke both Mr Christie and Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis have faced a wave of criticism because no action has been taken in the matter.

On Sunday, FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis said he hoped Mr Wells would announce in Parliament on Monday that he was resigning from his post.

His comments followed Mr Christie’s urging of Mr Wells in the House of Assembly last week to “speak the truth” on the matter and to not let people “denigrate” him on the issue.

Dr Minnis said Mr Christie’s comments left room to question if the prime minister is truly in charge of the country.

The House of Assembly was adjourned last night to November 19, with no statement from Mr Wells.