The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A SENIOR government official testified Friday that former Labour Minister Shane Gibson showed exemplary behaviour by trying to make the process by which contractors were paid following Hurricane Matthew in 2016 more transparent, accountable and less costly to taxpayers.

Mr Gibson is standing trial for allegedly soliciting and accepting $610,000 in bribes from Jonathan Ash in order to expedite payments owed to Mr Ash for post-hurricane clean-up efforts.

Jack Thompson, Permanent Secretary in the new Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction, was the administrator of the National Recovery & Reconstruction Unit (NRRU) under the former Christie administration and was responsible for coordinating restoration efforts in New Providence and Andros.

He testified that when he and others became concerned that multiple contractors were submitting bills seeking large payments for their clean-up and clearing work, NRRU officials met three times in late 2016 to discuss bringing order to the chaos

The first meeting was on October 16, 2016. By the time of the second meeting on November 16, 2016, he said the process was still out of control, prompting officials to stress the need for contracts that would be issued to select contractors and would specify the terms of pay. Mr Gibson, Mr Thompson said, issued stop orders around this time demanding that works be halted until officials better controlled the payment system. Officials met again to discuss the matter on November 21, 2016, he said.

Eventually, the Ministry of Works and Island Dimensions spearheaded the contract process, he said.

“I was pleased by the contracts because people all over were submitting bills and I appreciated the coordinated process,” he said.

As the prosecution’s witness, Mr Thompson was questioned first by James Guthrie, Q.C., who represents the Crown.

When questioned by Keith Knight, Mr Gibson’s lawyer, he accepted Mr Knight's glowing characterizations about Mr Gibson’s role in bringing order to the chaos.

He agreed he had an excellent working relationship with Mr Gibson, that Mr Gibson insisted he wanted the payment process regularized and that Mr Gibson was concerned the unwieldy process was costly to taxpayers. He agreed that Mr Gibson worked to prevent dishonesty from pervading. He also agreed that Mr Gibson’s issuance of stop orders was admirable, though he acknowledged that the orders were not rigidly obeyed.

A spreadsheet Mr Thompson prepared in 2017 indicating the payments to various contractors was entered into the trial’s exhibit.

Mr Thompson said he was never personally involved with Mr Ash. He acknowledged when questioned by Mr Guthrie that Mr Ash received more money than all other contractors: over seven-and-a-half million. He said the payments must have been authorized although he could not say by whom.

His role as administrator, he said, was to occasionally vet bills before they were submitted to the Treasury. However, he said, Debbie Bastian was the principal person responsible for vetting the bills and connecting them with the Treasury Department.

He agreed with Mr Knight that the spreadsheet showed it was not unusual for a company or individual to receive multiple payments on the same day.

The spreadsheet indicated that multiple contractors received multiple payments in a day or in a short period of time. Simmons Construction, for instance, received three cheques worth $42,000, $43,000 and $61,000 on April 11, 2017, he noted.

Earlier Friday, Inspector Shavone Dames testified that her analysis of logs showed Mr Ash made 13 calls to Mr Gibson from January 1 to April 30. She said Ms Bastian made 126 calls to Mr Gibson and Mr Gibson made 130 calls to her. These did not include WhatsApp calls, only direct calls, she said.