Nassau – More evidence of alleged impropriety was levied following a decision by the Minister of Health Duane Sands to award Barbara Hanna’s Magic Touch a $1,862,978.16 cleaning contract for the Princess Margaret Hospital [PMH].
Bahamas Press has now seen a copy of the Minutes of the Public Hospitals Authority [PHA] meeting of December 14th, 2017, which presented serious concerns from the Board of Directors following the PHA Executive Management decision to sign a the cleaning contract without the Board’s final approval.
Page four of the minutes of the meeting, under the header: 3.8 Decision on Cleaning Contract, shows how the Board was updated that, even with advices coming from the Office of the Attorney General with reservations and with a decision from the Tender Analysis Committee suggesting that Magic Touch was the “best company for the job and should be awarded the company for the contract”, the decision for its [the cleaning contract] approval and/ or ratification was never brought before the PHA Board.
The process to avoid the Board’s final decision was concerning to the Directors as outlined in the minutes.
According to the Board’s minutes, “Questions were raised as to what did the Board want to do, if anything, and also of the appearance of impropriety.”
According to the minutes, the Board recommended an internal audit of the events which led to the contract being awarded to Magic Touch, and for the conclusion of the audit to be returned to the Board by January 10th, 2018.
On Friday past, PHA legal advisor Leslie Isaacs confirmed in the bribery trial of former Frank Smith that the Board was not aware of the decision that approval of cleaning at the PMH had been granted by Minister Sands.
The case resumes Monday September 3, 2018 when Minister of Health Duane Sands is expected to take the stand.
We report yinner decide!
