Big pay day concern

Concern has been raised over millions of dollars paid out for
Consultancy Services by the Barbados Water Authority (BWA).
Auditor General Leigh Trotman revealed in his annual report for 2019
that the BWA entered into a contract with a company on September 11,
2013 for the “design, project financing, contract negotiations and
technical requirements” in the amount of US$2.75 million.

“Subsequent to the entering of the contract, the payment of US$2.75
million was made to the Company based on an invoice dated 1st November
2013. The invoice stated that this amount was for ‘previous expenses,
fees, reimbursable expenses and commissions for the Smart Water Meter
Project for Barbados’,” he pointed out.

“However, based on the review of documentation provided and interviews
conducted, the Audit was unable to verify that any consultancy
services were provided by this Company.”

Trotman said that the audit conducted interviews with current and
former employees of the Authority; Board members; officials from the
firm providing consultancy for “project transformation management
services”; the Technical Advisor to the Board, who was previously the
General Manager (Ag.) of the BWA; and a Director of the Company.

“In addition, the Audit reached out to another Director of the said
Company, who indicated that he would provide the Audit Office with
information in relation to the services provided. To date, no
information has been received from this Director,” Trotman indicated.

“This matter was also discussed with the previous Chairman as well as
management of the Authority. These parties indicated that they did not
know of any services provided by this Company. However, the previous
Chairman indicated that he would have looked into the matter and give
an explanation to the Auditor General. To date, no explanation of this
transaction has been forthcoming from the previous Chairman.  In
addition, the auditors requested but were not provided with any
letters of offer or acceptance, tender notice or tender documents, or
any Board decision/s with regard to the award of this contract.”

The Auditor General therefore expressed that he was concerned that
this payment was made by the Authority, without its personnel being
able to identify any services rendered.

Furthermore, he stated that this implies that there was a lapse of
internal controls in respect to the payment of funds to this Company
and the possibility of fraud taking place.

“Those responsible for this transaction should be held accountable,”
Trotman said. (TL)