Rowley to appear at Scarborough Hospital Inquiry

According to Rowley’s attorney Margaret Rose, her client was "committed to assisting the commission" even if he was not called on to give evidence. If a written statement by the minister was also required, Rose said, it would be made available.

Rowley may appear before the commission on August 3.

The commission, which is being chaired by retired judge Annestine Sealey, is hearing evidence in the inquiry into allegations of impropriety by Rowley as it relates to the construction of the Scarborough Hospital, and the award of State contracts to NHIC and Warner Construction.

The commission yesterday heard evidence from Quantity Surveyor at NH International (Caribbean) Ltd (NHIC), Mark Evans Hood.

According to Hood, NHIC was simultaneously working on three contracts in Tobago during 2003/2004 — the Scarborough Hospital project, Landate and Tobago Plantations. The material for the three sites, he said, was stored at the hospital site.

While there was no physical separation of the material, Hood said, the material intended to be used at Landate did not belong to the hospital site. However, Sealey questioned the issue of "intention" in the absence of separation. "Intention was only in the mind," she commented.

Hood said the material was stored at the hospital site because there was only one man doing security at the Landate site. NHIC, he said, paid for security for all the material and equipment stored at the Scarborough site, adding that payment for security was also under a measured contract.

Regarding the transfer of material from Scarborough to Landate, Hood said any material that left the site was accompanied by an authorised transfer slip.

However, under cross-examination by attorney Robin Montano, Hood could not say if several payment receipts referred to by the attorney were "genuine" and related to payments for material used on the Landate project. He admitted he had no personal knowledge of payments relative to the material.

Hood said he knew that the contractor was given duty concessions on some of the material imported from the US, UK and Canada, but did not know if similar concessions were afforded the contractor regarding the purchase of equipment.

When asked about the removal of equipment from the hospital site to Landate, Hood said he could not say if written consent was sought from the architect to have any equipment removed from the site.

While he admitted he was NHIC’s quantity surveyor responsible for the Landate site, he said he did not get involved in the day-to-day running of the project because Simon Ragbir was a trusted contractor. Although Ragbir had a "labour only contract" (sub-contractor responsible for labour), he was also paid a salary for supervision of works at Landate.

Hood agreed that based on the contract under which NHIC worked, equipment could be removed from a site only after the job was completed, and that material stored on a site must be used "exclusively" for the purpose of work on that site. He also agreed with Sealey that if a contract said one thing and something else was done, it amounted to a breach of contract.

He said work on the Landate project came to an end on April 5, 2005, and while NHIC was still owed a large sum for work done, he could not say if a three-month delay without payments was normal because he did not know the terms of payment of the contract.

Ragbir is expected to appear before the commission today.