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St. Ann Municipal Corporation Office of the Contractor General November 2017
him in the amount of $285,000.00 and for which he was paid a cheque in the same amount by the
St. Ann Municipal Corporation.
On the basis that (a) the St. Ann Municipal Corporation has been unable to provide the OCG with
any documentation authorizing this award of contract to Mr. Blyden Brown (b) the inability of the
Office of the Member of Parliament to locate any such authorization and (c) the unequivocal
statement of Ms. Hanna that she would not have made such a recommendation in the name of Mr.
Blyden Brown, the OCG concludes that further criminal investigation may be warranted to
determine the basis upon which this contract was awarded to Mr. Brown.
7.
In the foregoing regard, the OCG concludes that the accounting and accountable officers of the St.
Ann Municipal Corporation failed in their statutory responsibilities and obligations to
appropriately account for the prudent disbursement of entrusted public funds, in keeping with the
fiduciary responsibilities which are conferred on to accounting and accountable officers by Section
16 (2) of the FAA Act.
8.
The OCG concludes that the “
SAINT ANN PARISH COUNCIL WORK PERFORMED AT
AGREED RATES
” document, which is utilized by the St. Ann Municipal Corporation, is a
contract. In actual fact, it is the only formal documentation which outlines all pertinent
information relating to the works which are to be performed and in some cases have already been
performed, inclusive of the commencement and completion dates, the description of the works and
the agreed sum. From a legal and practical stand point, it is the opinion of the OCG that the
subject document satisfies the criteria for a contract of an offer, acceptance and consideration,
where the section describing the works to be performed being regarded as the offer, the signature
of the contractor, the acceptance of the offer and the contract sum payable, the consideration.
9.
The OCG concludes that the instances observed where contracts are signed by the contractor
subsequent to the contract’s commencement and completion dates are not only irregular but