Contractor General Greg Christie has responded to statements made by tourism minister Ed Bartlett, in a letter to the prime minister regarding the American Airlines Airlift Guarantee Agreements.

Mr. Bartlett had sought to explain his role in the airlift deal following an investigative report on the agreement by the contractor general.

But in his letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the president of the senate, the prime minister and attorney general, the contractor general charged that Mr. Bartlett has not in any way credibly addressed nor challenged any of the material findings or recommendations in the report.

The investigation by the Office of the Contractor General, OCG had found that the air service agreements between Jamaica and American Airlines were improperly awarded and that the government was misled about details of the US$4.5 million deal.

In his letter responding to Mr. Bartlett, the contractor general notes that the three main findings on which the OCG made its recommendations to the prime minister and the attorney general for disciplinary action against Mr. Bartlett, director of tourism John Lynch and Lionel Reid, the executive director of Jamaica Vacations are not addressed in the tourism minister’s letter.

The OCG found that Mr. Bartlett purposefully misled the Cabinet on the details of the deal.

The report also says John Lynch signed three agreements with American Airlines committing the government and taxpayers to a contingent debt of over $400 million without Cabinet approval.

According to the OCG, Mr. Lynch and John Reid also engaged legal services and incurred significant expenses without obtaining the requisite approvals of the Board of Directors of Jamaica Vacations Limited and/or the Permanent Secretary of the Tourism Ministry.

The contractor general says there is nothing in Mr. Bartlett’s letter that even comes close to absolving him, Mr. Lynch or Mr. Reid from culpability for their conduct in any of the agreements which are of grave national import.

The contractor general also says if Mr. Bartlett is suggesting that the exemption of JAMVAC from the government’s procurement rules authorizes him to deceive the prime minister and the cabinet, then he’s helplessly misguided and must, in the public interest, be expeditiously brought into line, not only by the prime minister but by Parliament.

He also says Mr. Bartlett’s veiled attempt to excuse Mr. Lynch’s conduct by relying on JAMVAC’s exemption from the Procurement Rules is nothing more than a blatant distortion of the facts which is clearly intended to further mislead the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the taxpayers of Jamaica.