THE Tonga Government Procurement Committee, whose primary job is to ensure Government is procuring goods at a reasonable price and of appropriate quality, was left in the dark when Cabinet made the decision to purchase the MV Princess Ashika ferry from Fiji in April earlier this year, the Ashika Inquiry was told on Friday.
The Director of Works and Deputy Chairman of the Government Procurement Committee, Sione Taumoepeau, in his evidence on November 13, confirmed that he never saw nor was he provided documentation to support the conclusion that any due diligence had been conducted in relation to Ashika. This was with the exception of a letter he received from the former Minister of Transport Paul Karalus in May, asserting to have carried out due diligence on survey documents; notice survey December 2008 supplied from the Fiji Ministry and said they had sighted the latest dry dock.
In being questioned by the Assisting Counsel to the Commission, Manuel Varitimos, the witness agreed, that as part of a proper procurement process, valuation should be provided to the committee particularly in relation to goods worth $600,000 pa'anga. In this particular case the procurement committee was not given information to support any assessment to enable any consideration to be made as to whether the quality of Ashika was satisfactory or whether the price being paid for the vessel was satisfactory.
Cabinet decision
The witness confirmed that on April 23, 2009, Cabinet had already resolved to purchase the vessel. The procurement committee only received a circular dated May 13, 2009, from the Secretariat seeking the approval of the committee of the contract, which was the sale and purchase agreement between the Ministry of Transport and Patterson Brothers.
The counsel asked, "Would you agree with the suggestion that the seeking of advice from the procurement committee in relation to Ashika was a waste of time because the decision to purchase the boat had already been made and the contract for the sale was already signed?", and the witness answered, yes.
A copy of the contract of sale and purchase of Ashika faxed on May 6 to Fiji was signed by the former Minister of Transport and Acting Secretary for Transport 'Eleni Mone, witnessed by John Jonnese.
The witness confirmed that the former Minister for Transport was fully aware of the existence of the procurement committee. And there was concern among committee members that they were not included in relation to the possible purchase of Ashika.
The procurement committee, was set up by 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. It consists of the Director of Works, the Minister of Finance and Planning, the Auditor General, Commissioner of Revenue, Solicitor General and the Secretary for Finance and Planning.
