File on PP/OAS link sent to CoP

Already a minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and Office of the Attorney General, Stuart Young made his public debut as Communications Minister with a bang last Friday as a corruption buster, distancing a previous PNM government from awarding the failed OAS contract for the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension to Point Fortin.

Young disclosed that against dissenting voices, the contract was awarded in cash by the former PP administration to OAS, a Brazilian company at the centre of a corruption scandal which he said has brought down two presidents, at least four senators and executives in the South American country.

He said Government has sent a file to the police for investigation on the PP deal.

“We have sent to the Commissioner of Police, photographs of executives of the former administration in a private plane, flying all over the world with the now-jailed executives of OAS on their way to the World Cup in South Africa..," Young said.

“It is absolutely shocking what has taken place with this company that was handpicked by a former administration and they don’t like us to remind you the public as to what took place in the past.”

Speaking at the opening of sections of the highway, Young admitted a former PNM administration initiated the process for the construction but no contract was awarded because the bids were higher than the engineers estimate of $3.6 billion.

The contract was awarded on March 4, 2011 by the former PP government on a design build contract to OAS for $5.2 billion, he said, which was $1.6 billion more than the engineer's estimate.

He traced the history of the project which has been mired in controversy and the many legal challenges Government has undertaken to recover some of the money paid up front for work which was never completed.