By Patrick Denny
Stabroek News
June 20, 2001

The Office of the President yesterday said that a contract for the printing of the updated Laws of Guyana, executed by the Ministry of Legal Affairs on March 15, committed public funds without the knowledge of Cabinet.

The contract was awarded to New Global Consults Inc which has offices at 126-03 Liberty Avenue, Richmond Hill, Queens NY. Its principals are US-based Guyanese.

A release from the Office of the President (OP) yesterday said that an "Investigation should soon be concluded as to the basis for the action taken by the Ministry of Legal Affairs in disregard of the Cabinet Decision CP(2001) 2:1:N. The (OP) statement had been promised since last week and came in the wake of a series of reports in Stabroek News on the award of the contract.

The Permanent Secretary, Ganga Persaud signed the contract on behalf of the Ministry. Contacted for a comment yesterday, Persaud could not offer one as he said he had not yet seen a copy of the statement by the Office of the President.

The statement said that the US$220,500 contract resulted from Cabinet Decision CP(2001) 2:1:N issued on February 13 but that "the conditions of the contract were not adhered to.

"Specifically, the expected external financing by the IDB (Inter?American Development Bank) of the US$220,500 expenditure to be incurred for printing the Volumes was not acquired."

Stabroek News understands that the investigation was being conducted internally at the Ministry of Legal Affairs and would then be extended to include the Central Tender Board, the other agency that would be involved in the award of the contract.

Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon had explained that the person responsible for the execution of contracts at the Ministry is the Accounting Officer who is the Permanent Secretary. He said that the rules provided for the Permanent Secretary being surcharged if he is responsible for overspending.

The contract was awarded to New Global Consults Inc to print 300 ten?set volumes of the Laws of Guyana; 300 CDs on which the updated laws were recorded and for establishing a website on which the updated laws would be printed.

Office of the President officials have told Stabroek News that Cabinet had required that the Ministry of Legal Affairs obtain a "no objection" statement from the IDB for the sole sourcing of the contract through which it was to be awarded. Operators in the local information technology sector had complained via letters to this newspaper that tenders were not invited from local companies and questioned the procedure for the award of the contract. They had said that the contract could have been executed by local companies.

Sources had said that the government's lawyers were looking at the possibility of repudiating the contract. However, legal sources have told Stabroek News that the Permanent Secretary who signed the contract could be presumed to have the authority to do so. In such a case, they said it would be difficult, if at all, for the government to get out of it. Another complication is that the volumes are to be delivered by monthend.

When first approached by Stabroek News, the ministry had said that the US$220,500 contract was an IDB contract but after the report appeared the ministry corrected itself and stated that it was being funded by the Guyana government. The ministry also that the contract was entered into on the basis of a Cabinet decision.

However, when contacted Dr Luncheon had said that it was being funded by the IDB. Stabroek News contacted the IDB which flatly denied that it had provided any funding for the project.

Stabroek News understands too from sources at the Ministry of Finance that New Global Consults had lost out on a US$150,600 contract funded by the IDB to US law firm Foley, Hoag and Eliot with which government lobbyist Paul Reichler is associated for improving the legal framework for property rights.

These sources told Stabroek News that New Global Consults Inc was rated No 2 and that no local firm tendered for the contract.

Stabroek News has telephoned the company at its Richmond Hill, Queens, New York address but has been unable to speak to any of its officers.