PPM wants inquiry

Hon Kurt Tibbetts	MLA Alden McLaughlin

Friday,  December 10, 2004

The Opposition Peoples Progressive Movement (PPM) has said although it welcomes the Auditor General’s inquiry into the $10.7 million debris removal contract awarded to American owned company MC Restoration, there is a need for a Commission of Inquiry.

The PPM is worried that the scope of the Auditor’s inquiry is limited and will likely only address whether the correct procedures were followed and if the Government got value for money.

Leader of the Opposition Hon Kurt Tibbetts said:

“There must be a full independent investigation into the award of the contract to determine the answers to our questions.” “The Auditor General’s inquiry will not do that. His inquiry does not, therefore, constitute a full investigation into the award of the MC Restoration contract.”

Mr Tibbetts added: “With regard to the many unanswered questions about the MC Restoration contract, the United Democratic Party Government’s silence on the matter and the refusal to make the contract public, the PPM is calling on HE the Governor to urgently appoint an independent Commission of Inquiry into the award of the MC Restoration contract.”

The Opposition Leader believes it is in the public’s interest for a full and complete investigation to take place and for the findings of the investigation to be made public prior to the General Elections in May 2005. 

He concluded that an independent Commission of Inquiry will focus on the MC Restoration contract and associated issues and will not interfere with the recovery of the Cayman Islands.

Member of the Legislative Assembly and General Secretary of the PPM Alden McLaughlin said the report of the Auditor General will be sent to the Public Accounts Committee in which he has no confidence. 

“It is chaired and dominated by supporters of the Government’s backbench and members of the ruling party and as a result it is rendered incapable of carrying out its constitutional function as watchdog of the public’s finance,” Mr. McLaughlin added. 

The members of the Public Accounts Committee are Rolston Anglin, Lyndon Martin, Cline Glidden, Arden McLean and Anthony Eden.

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