A National Heliport Services Ltd (NHSL) accountant was a member of a 2014 tender committee that approved a $500 million contract for Bell Helicopter to provide four helicopters and the construction of a hangar.
Bell Helicopter, a Fort Worth, Texas, US, company founded in 1935, specialising in the design and production of fighter aircraft, was chosen by the committee out of a shortlist of two—the other being a UK helicopter firm, Eurocopter.
Bell, which fit all the criteria, got the nod after it tendered $12 million less than Eurocopter.
The disclosures were made by former national security minister Gary Griffith, who served under the last administration, in response to statements made in Parliament by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Rowley described it as a dubious contract the NHSL refused to be involved with.
Griffith, denying this, said the NHSL was involved in the contract and Rowley might not have been properly briefed on the details of the transaction.
He said the tender committee that approved the tender included NOC personnel, external legal counsel and a NHSL accountant.
He said the then finance minister tendered to financial institutions to bid on a loan to finance the transaction and was able to secure an $81 million loan from a bank.
“The Office of the Prime Minister wrote the NHSL instructing them to finalise the loan.
“The tender procedures were all done and approved by the permanent secretary in the ministry of finance.
“Cabinet Note 1002 states that the National Security Council agreed that the purchase of the helicopters will be done through the NHSL and the loan will be guaranteed by the government.
“The contract was signed in March 2015 with Bell for the delivery of the helicopters and the building of the hangars,” Griffith said.
The T&T Guardian was unable to get confirmation from NHSL. An employee transferred us to the general manager who he said was the best person to talk to.
But there was no answer from that extension, even after repeated calls.
Efforts to reach National Security Minister retired Major General Edmund Dillon were also fruitless. Dillon’s cell phone remained switched off.
Griffith, giving details of the Bell contract, said the then national security ministry was not involved in the tender arrangements, which were handled by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), but he was well aware of what went on.
He said the National Operations Centre (NOC) gave the OPM the go ahead to purchase the four helicopters because they were needed in assisting with national security operations.
$500m CCTV tender
The tender arrangements for another $500 million contract with Chinese firm, Huawei Technologies Ltd, for the implementation of the Safe City System, was done at the Office of the Prime Minister in March 2013.
Griffith said he was also aware of that contract and claimed Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was again not properly briefed on the matter.
Rowley, in his budget presentation, said this was “another troubling matter”.
He added, “I am told that this Chinese company is putting in some system which will allow us, electronically, to look on television screens over the whole of T&T.”
Rowley said he was concerned about “a security breach to our sovereignity”.
Griffith, denying there was any security breach due to the CCTV system, which was set up at the NOC, said, “The NOC has no access to intercept or spy.”