Auditor General tells inquiry how Ashika purchase was approved [1]
Friday, December 11, 2009 - 09:17. Updated on Sunday, May 11, 2014 - 11:34.
Auditor General Pohiva Tu'ionetoa, a member of a Government Procurement Committee told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the Princess Ashika on December 10, that in May it became known to the committee that Cabinet had made a decision on April 23 to buy the vessel, and a contract was already signed.
Pohiva also agreed with the Assisting Counsel to the Commission Manuel Varitimos that prior to the contract being signed it was proper for the matter to be submitted to the Procurement Committee first.
The Procurement Committee set up by the Cabinet primarily to assist the Minister of Finance in ensuring payments for procurement processes and to give advice on whether goods or services be purchased or acquired by Government. The members of the committee included the Director of Works, the Minister of Finance and Planning, the Auditor General, the Commissioner of Revenue, the Solicitor General and the Secretary for Finance and Planning.
Approval
With regards to a Circulation that was signed by the Auditor General on 26 May 2009 and it read, approved on the basis that Crown Law advised that it is satisfied with oral evidence from the Ministry of Transport that due diligence was duly completed, otherwise not approved."
Pohiva said that he signed the circulation based on the fact that the Solicitor General's endorsement on May 21 that Crown Law and Minister of Finance were informed by the Minister of Transport that due diligence on the vessel was completed.
The procurement committee received the circular in May 2009 from the Secretariat seeking its approval of the contract, the sale and purchase agreement between the Ministry of Transport and Patterson Brothers
In an earlier hearing on November 13 the Deputy Chairman of the Procurement Committee, Sione Taumoepeau, told the Commission that he was neither provided with nor had he seen any documentation to support the conclusion that any due diligence had been conducted in relation to the Ashika.