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St. Ann Municipal Corporation Office of the Contractor General November 2017
Further, if the signed witness statement provided by Mrs. Joan McDonald is the presumed truth, it
would mean that her initial evidence given in the hearing of July 15, 2015 as it regards, (a) having
personal knowledge of the works performed and (b) paying the persons who were engaged would
have been an attempt to mislead the Contractor General in its investigation of the subject matter.
28. On the presumption that the evidence provided by Mrs. Joan McDonald in her Witness Statement,
which was dated November 12, 2015, is the truth, the OCG concludes that
, Mrs. Joan McDonald
willfully made
[an earlier]
statement which is material to the OCG’s investigation
,
which she
knew to be false or does not believe to be true, contrary to
Section 4 and 11 of the Perjury Act.
29. The OCG concludes that the misrepresentations of Mrs. McDonald are material and go to the root
of the OCG’s Investigation.
30. Having regard to the validity of the documents labelled as Exhibits “JM1” and “JM2”, the OCG
concludes that “JM1” constitutes a false document pursuant to the definition ascribed by Section 3
of the Forgery Act.
31. The OCG accepts the testimony of Mrs. Joan McDonald that the document “JM1” was prepared
by Ms. Andrea Smith, with a view to rescuing Mrs Joan McDonald in purporting to recall the
names of the persons who were engaged by her as sub-contractors in respect of the contract which
was awarded in the amount of $414,900.00. This manoeuvre arose during the course of the OCG’s
Investigation whereby Mrs. Joan McDonald was asked by the Contractor General to list the names
of persons whom she had engaged. The OCG further concludes that by virtue of the
aforementioned actions of Ms. Smith, consideration must be given as to whether the stated act
gives rise to a breach of Section 29 of the Contractor General Act. Further, the OCG concludes
that Ms. Smith deliberately fabricated a document and aided and abetted Ms. Joan McDonald in
uttering a false document to the Contractor General.