#BTEditorial – We have a right to know more about SSA ‘corruption’

Could there be evidence of another corruption scandal from the last administration?

Less than two months after ex-minister Donville Inniss was found guilty on two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in the United States, the minister responsible for the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) has revealed alleged corruption.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Minister of the Environment Trevor Prescod revealed millions of dollars of financial irregularities which “had the potential to emerge as felonies” had been unearthed at the SSA since the Labour Party came into office almost two years ago.

He told the House: “The mess at the Sanitation Service Authority was such we are still trying to unearth it, and some of these things have the potential to emerge as felonies.

“We came and found a department owing $27,497,130.63 to the National Insurance Scheme, $10,679,075.34 in Pay As You Earn (PAYE) to the Barbados Revenue Authority, $34 million to the Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre and other suppliers, and over $3 million to other small businesses with whom it had worked.”

He called names while declaring that several contracts had been issued at “grossly inflated prices”.

With Inniss’s conviction still fresh in the public’s minds, the possibility of potential prosecutions is hardly as far-fetched now as in the past.

Or is it?

We note that Inniss, the former Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, was convicted on American soil, not in Barbados.

Despite being convicted there, no charges have been laid in Barbados against Inniss – even though the law that US federal prosecutors cited to indicate the corrupt source of the laundered funds was the Barbadian Prevention of Corruption Act.

What intrigues us in the SSA episode is that despite revealing irregularities serious enough to land someone in prison, Prescod opted not to reveal if there had been any reports made to police or if any other action had been taken to make any official accountable.

The question, then, needs to be asked: is Prescod just blowing hot air? Is this another case of more bark than bite?

Since Independence in 1966, there have been countless charges and rumours of Government’s coffers being grossly misused.

While Prescod’s allegations are not the first and definitely will not be the last, what is left to be seen is whether any action will actually be taken this time around or if such revelations will continue to be seen as a talk shop.

We share the widely circulated opinion that if Inniss had not been convicted in the US he would have remained a free man in Barbados.

And if what Prescod is saying is indeed true, the Mia Mottley administration, which has preached its desire for transparency since winning the May 2018 General Election, has the power to do what no Government as done before: hold someone accountable and place them before the law courts for corrupt practices.

The total amount owed by the SSA to the respective agencies as disclosed by Prescod are substantial and cannot simply be swept under the rug.

With the country still under the IMF’s Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme, financial resources are limited more than ever.

It simply is not fair for the taxpayers of this country to continually have to bear the brunt of the burden while persons who were bestowed with power and used such for his or her own personal gain to get off scot-free.

The irregularities at the SSA have been found. We wait to see what will be the eventual outcome – justice and restitution or the realisation that Barbados will continue to be a talk shop.