CEPEP’s 2013-2015 financial records missing, says GM

UPDATE:

THE general manager of the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) says there have been setbacks in completing an audit on the company. He says the financial accounts for 2013, 2014 and 2015 cannot be found.

Keith Eddie said in order to get these accounts sorted out, they will have to go back to bank records.
“It has made it very difficult to sign off on the 2015 audit because of a lack of information. The management team has made several attempts to recover it.
“They went as far as asking Price Waterhouse (audit firm) to provide software, but the server crashed and everything is now lost. The estimated annual cost of running CEPEP contracts in the previous years was $500 million to $600 million annually.”

He said contractors who are awaiting payments are those who are owing National Insurance contributions, and once they settle their accounts, they will be paid.
He was speaking yesterday at the company’s monthly board meeting at its Ste Madeleine office.

ORIGINAL STORY:

CHAIRMAN of the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP), Ashton Ford, said it is against the law to record people’s conversations without their permission. He declined comment on a tape-recording of a conversation purported to be between Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein and La Brea MP Nicole Ollivierre about CEPEP contractors.

The audio has been making the rounds on social media, but speaking at yesterday's monthly board meeting at CEPEP’s office in Ste Madeleine, Ford said a government minister cannot telephone to recommend contractors for contracts.

"There is no truth in the allegations that supporters of the People’s National Movement are being favoured for contracts. It is up to the tendering committee."