The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) concluded its Special Investigation into the 4M Energy Saving and Light Bulb Distribution Project in February 2008.
Pursuant to the provisions which are contained in Section 28 (2) and Section 21 of the Contractor General Act, hard copies of the Report were formally conveyed by the Contractor General to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the President of the Senate on February 4, 2008, with a request that they be tabled in both Houses of Parliament “as soon as possible” in keeping with the requirements of Section 28 (3) of the Act.
The OCG was subsequently advised by the Office of the Clerk to the Houses of Parliament that the Report was not tabled in the House of Representatives until February 12, 2008 and in the Senate on February 15, 2008.
Pursuant to the expressed provisions which are contained in Section 20 (1) of the Contractor General Act, hard copies of the Report were also formally conveyed, on February 4, 2008, by the Contractor General, to the Minister with portfolio responsibility for Energy, Mining and Telecommunications, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications, and the Group Managing Director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.
Section 20 (1) of the Act provides that “after conducting an investigation under this Act, a Contractor General shall, in writing, inform the principal officer of the Public Body concerned and the Minister having responsibility therefor of the result of that investigation and make such recommendations as he considers necessary in respect of the matter which was investigated”.
Further, pursuant to the expressed provisions which are contained in Section 21 of the Contractor General Act, hard copies of the Report were also formally conveyed by the Contractor General, on February 4, 2008, to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Commissioner of Police, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, the Auditor General and the Attorney General.
Section 21 of the Contractor General Act provides that “if a Contractor General finds, during the course of his investigations or on the conclusion thereof that there is evidence of a breach of duty or misconduct or criminal offence on the part of an officer or member of a Public Body, he shall refer the matter to the person or persons competent to take such disciplinary or other proceeding as may be appropriate against that officer or member and in all such cases shall lay a special report before Parliament”.
Now that the Report has been tabled in both Houses of Parliament, the Office of the Contractor General, acting in the public interest and in pursuance of the expressed statutory powers which are reserved to the Contractor General by Section 28 (4) of the Contractor General Act, hereby publishes, below, the referenced Special Report of Investigation into the 4M Energy Saving and Light Bulb Distribution Project.
Section 28 (4) of the Contractor General Act provides that “a Contractor General may, in the public interest, from time to time, publish in such manner as he thinks fit, reports relating to such matters as are mentioned in subsection (2) and any case which is the subject of a special report under Section 21, but no such report shall be published until after it has been laid pursuant to subsection (3)” in both Houses of Parliament.
Please click on the appropriate link below to read the OCG’s 4M Light Bulb Distribution Investigation Report.
Please also click on the appropriate links below to read about the false, damaging and unsubstantiated allegation which was made by the former Speaker of the House and current Opposition Member of Parliament, Mr. Michael Peart, on February 12, 2008, on the floor of the House of Representatives. Mr. Peart implicated the OCG and its staff in the unlawful leak of its own Investigation Report when he categorically stated that the OCG’s 4M Light Bulb Investigation Report was “emailed from the Contractor General’s Office” to the Media.
Although Mr. Peart was immediately called upon by the Contractor General to publicly adduce evidence to substantiate his widely published allegation, he was unable to do so. Indeed, formal investigations which were subsequently conducted into the matter by the OCG, and by the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, found that the Report was in point of fact not leaked or emailed from the OCG as Mr. Peart had erroneously claimed.
At the March 18, 2008 sitting of the House of Representatives, Mr. Peart was formally requested by the Speaker of the House, the Hon. Delroy Chuck, to respond to these findings. Mr. Peart, in his response, unequivocally withdrew his allegation. Mr. Peart also expressed his "regret" for the remarks which he had made and for "any inconvenience" that his unfortunate and misleading allegation may have caused to the Office of the Contractor General.
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