Eustace alleges corruption in Ministry of Health

by Kenton X. Chance Tue, Aug 10, 2010

“This is downright corruption,” Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace said on Monday of practices at the Ministry of Health, where civil servants allegedly bought computer supplies and fast food and paid sums of money to the International Airport Development Company (IADC), contrary to the government policy.{{more}}

Eustace, on his weekly appearance on the New Times radio show on August 9, quoted the Director of Audit’s Special Report of the locally-financed Cuban Integrated Health Programme, which began in 2007.

He said that in March 2010, the Audit Office decided to conduct a special audit of the programme, reviewing the purchase, custody and accounting of items from January 2007 to April 2010.

The audit was triggered by observations at the Treasury Department, relating to the frequent purchase of food from Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), the purchase of large quantities of computer equipment and supplies, and refunds made to the IADC.

“…[A] large percentage of these purchases were not in keeping with the agreement,” Eustace said, quoting the Auditor’s report.

The report, according to Eustace, said the Permanent Secretary delegated responsibility for management of the programme to an Executive Officer, rather than the higher ranking Senior Assistant Secretary with responsibility for accounts.

“A large percentage of the funds were not expended for the purpose intended by Parliament,” the Auditor said, adding that many of the items could not be accounted for on inspection.

“They were not there,” Eustace said.

The Auditor also spoke of wastage of resources at the Ministry and the circumvention of the Central Supplies Tender Board.

Eustace said that in renting apartments for the Cuban doctors, rather than using the normal government documents for house rentals, the Ministry of Health prepared three-month contracts, none of which exceeded $5,000.

“The small contract form they used does not normally capture the things that government wants to know about in these leases,” Eustace said.

“[They] could only have been used to circumvent the Central Supplies Tenders Board procedures and to evade the need for the Ministry of Finance’s approval of payment over $5,000,” Eustace read from the report.

In one case, the lease for an apartment for “Vision Now” personnel was in the name of the state-owned IADC and was being paid by the company.

The Opposition Leader said the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health told the Auditors that at the time of securing the lease, the Ministry did not have any funds and the IADC decided to finance the lease, Eustace said.

When Auditors inquired why the money was not paid back to the IADC, the Permanent Secretary said that “the company did not have any problems paying for the lease since persons do not want to conduct business with the government because payments are being held up at the treasury,” Eustace said.

Auditors also found that items that Customs documents show were exempted by the Customs were not paid for by the Ministry.

“These items would have been bought for private use and were brought in under the Ministry’s concession, resulting in the evasion of custom duties. This matter will be drawn to the [attention of the] Comptroller of Customs and Excise,” the report said, according to Eustace.

“They are using the programme for their personal thing and by using the programme, you get them in free of duty and all other charges, when they are not entitled to that,” Eustace said.

“…And they also break it down to less than $5,000 in each case. That is to avoid the Ministry of Finance checking on them,” said Eustace, a former prime minister and minister of finance.

“Just imagine we have reached to the stage where people feel they could do something like that and nobody would know. There must be collusion. It really is disgusting that people do that,” Eustace said.

Eustace said that according to the agreement with Cuba, the Ministry of Health must feed the doctors between the time they arrive in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and when they receive their first stipend, normally a three-day period.

However, the auditors found that large purchases were made at KFC, even when no medical personnel had arrived.

In one instance, one doctor arrived in SVG on August 21, 2009 and received his stipend on August 24, 2009.

However, during that three-day period, the Ministry, in three separate orders from KFC, chalked up a bill of $610.

On August 21, at 10:19 p.m., the Ministry ordered from KFC 4 bottles of 2-litre soda, 3 regular French fries, one 10-piece combo mix, 2 biscuits, and 3 sets of 8-piece carnival mix, totalling $173.

The following evening, at 7:46 p.m., the Ministry ordered from KFC 2 sets of 3-piece biscuits mix, 1 regular French fries, 1 corn, one 10-piece family meal, 2 bottles of 2-litre soda, one 3-piece meals, and 1 zinger sandwich.

On August 23, the Ministry ordered, also from KFC, 3 bottles of 2-litre soda, one 8-piece carnival mix, one fish and chips, one zinger sandwich and one 9-piece mix.

That same day, the Ministry also ordered from The Cobblestone Inn, juice, coffee, toast, cheese sandwiches, lunch and ice cream.

Eustace noted that no food is to be ordered if health personnel have not arrived from Cuba.

However, the auditors found that food was ordered between November and December 2009, when no new health personnel had arrived.

On October 20, 2009, at 5:22 p.m., the Ministry ordered from KFC 1 set of 5-piece spicy meal, 2 regular fries, 1 corn, 1 bottle of 2-litre soda, one 10-piece family mix, and three fish sandwiches.

On November 20, 2009 at 9:50 p.m., the Ministry also ordered from KFC, a 10-piece combo spicy, one 6-piece combo original, one 10-piece combo spicy, and 5 fish sandwiches.

“Who is eating this food here at taxpayer’s expense?” Eustace said.

“The Ministry has to explain who ate this food, who it went to, and account for it,” he added.

Minister of Health Dr. Douglas Slater was in a meeting and unavailable for comment when SEARCHLIGHT contacted the Ministry Monday afternoon.