Fmr Minister Patterson was gifted $500K in gold jewellery from taxpayers’ dollars – document shows

Jan 19, 2021 News

Former Minister of Public Works, David Patterson.

Kaieteur News – Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, had received a birthday gift totalling some $500,000, a document from the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) and the Garden of Eden Asphalt Plant shows.
According to the document, on May 2, 2017 a “Requisition to Purchase” was placed with King’s Jewellery World to acquire “one hand band (movable)” at the cost of $424,000 and “one tie pin” at $76,000. These items, the document reveals, were purchased as birthday gifts for Patterson, but it is unclear whether he ever received the same.
Yesterday Kaieteur News made attempts to reach out to Patterson, who is now the Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), to confirm these new details. Those efforts proved futile.

A copy of the “Requisition to Purchase” the jewellery.

Notably, this is the second case of a jewellery purchase uncovered under the DHBC and the Asphalt Plant. In fact, Kaieteur News has reported in late December that General Manager of the DHBC, Rawlston Adams, had honoured himself in a rather unique fashion for International Men’s Day 2019 with a bracelet worth a whopping $897,000 using funds from the company.
That discovery only came to light after a special team had been appointed by Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill, to investigate an alleged racket at the Garden of Eden Asphalt Plant.
Head of the team, Chateram Ramdihal, had stated during the handing over ceremony that “we found that the Harbour Bridge went about buying gifts for their staff during International Men’s Day November of 2019. It was the Board’s request that any gifts purchased must be approved by the Board.”
However, those purchases were not given a stamp of approval by the Board, Ramdihal had said, while adding that, “we came across an alarming gift to the value of $897,000, a bracelet that was purchased for the General Manager and approved by the General Manager.”
He had explained that in normal circumstances, approval for such a large purchase comes directly from the Board. If no Board is present, the matter is escalated to the Public Infrastructure Minister who was David Patterson at the time. But Adams apparently bypassed all these levels and presented himself with the high-priced gift. Gifts were also said to have been purchased for other members of staff to commemorate the day but no details were given to outline what those were and the costs.