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Was it for Coleen or Kern or the Project?
Why buy a car from the boss?
Was Kern Spencer and Coleen Wright dating or was she just acting as his private assistant?
So where is the car now?
The $2-million question!
Why did Bobby Pickersgill accept money from Kern Spencer's assistant?
Sunday, March 16, 2008
INVESTIGATIONS into the Cuban light bulb scandal have turned to People's National Party (PNP) chairman, Robert Pickersgill, who received a $2-million payment last October from Kern Spencer's former personal assistant, Coleen Wright.
PICKERSGILL... the transaction has been properly documented so anyone who genuinely wants to know the truth can check it
Sunday Observer sources said yesterday that Pickersgill was expected to be interviewed, most likely this week, by police who are trying to unearth information that could provide answers as to why Pickersgill received two cheques totalling $2 million drawn on the account of Wright, one of three persons implicated in the Cuban light bulb affair.
The cheques - one in the amount of $1,907,300 and the other for $92,700 - were both dated October 8, 2007 and lodged on October 9, 2007 to the PNP chairman's account.
But Pickersgill quickly dismissed any suggestions of wrong-doing, saying he had received the money as payment for a four-year-old Crown motor car that he had sold to Kern Spencer, the former junior energy minister at the centre of the scandal.
Pickersgill said the money was paid out of Wright's account, because "everything is in their joint name, they were doing it together". He dismissed suggestions of any wrong-doing, saying the payments were not linked to the light bulb affair.
"Let me say, this transaction (car payment) took place on the eighth of October. The first time I heard anything about what is now described as the Cuban light bulb issue was on the 23rd of October in Parliament when Mr (Clive) Mullings spoke. All this is part of an attempt to embroil me in what is now described as the Cuban Bulb Issue," Pickersgill told the Sunday Observer.
Spencer, Wright and businesman Rodney Chin are out on bail after being arrested and charged, as police deepened their probe into the scandal over new energy minister, Clive Mullings' claims that apparent hanky-panky led to the then government spending over $267 million to distribute four million fluorescent bulbs, a gift from Cuba to the Jamaican people.
In January, the auditor general reported that about 176,380 of the four million bulbs, costing approximately $92 million, could not be accounted for, while there was an absence of an effective system of budgetary control, resulting in the making of payments and the incurring of unpaid obligations of $185.3 million over the approved financial support of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.
Contractor general Greg Christie followed that up with a damning report, alleging "a very strong inference of an unlawful criminal conspiracy and corruption" in the award of contracts under the project.
But Pickersgill was adamant that the money he received had nothing to do with the light bulb affair.
"This all has to do with the sale of a motor car I owned up until the eight of October, last year, a Crown motor car, a four-year-old car. I made it known that the car was for sale, and Mr Kern Spencer approached me about the purchase of the car and I indicated to him that there were others who were interested so, if he really wanted to purchase the car, make arrangements quickly," he said in a statement to the Sunday Observer.
"He then came back in the company of one Miss Coleen Wright, and they said to me that they would give me a cheque to hold the purchase of the car and, by the following day, they would complete the arrangements with the bank. She did that and, true to form, the following day I called the bank and they said I could lodge the cheque.
"I did that and then I delivered the car. There is a lien on the car and a bill of sale on the car by the NCB. A bill of sale and a lien is on, so (there is) no doubt about the transaction and the authenticity of the transaction because it was by way of a bank loan," he added.
Pickersgill said the transaction was "an upfront, legal transaction, a normal transaction and anyone who is interested, if it were not so much an attempt to embroil me in something, the checks could have been made quite easily and ascertain what really transpired and in that regard I have absolutely nothing to hide".
He repeated his charge that "I don't think anybody really wanted to find that out. The paper trail is there and the transaction has been properly documented so anyone who genuinely wants to know the truth can check it".
Why buy a car from the boss?
Was Kern Spencer and Coleen Wright dating or was she just acting as his private assistant?
So where is the car now?
The $2-million question!
Why did Bobby Pickersgill accept money from Kern Spencer's assistant?
Sunday, March 16, 2008
INVESTIGATIONS into the Cuban light bulb scandal have turned to People's National Party (PNP) chairman, Robert Pickersgill, who received a $2-million payment last October from Kern Spencer's former personal assistant, Coleen Wright.
PICKERSGILL... the transaction has been properly documented so anyone who genuinely wants to know the truth can check it
Sunday Observer sources said yesterday that Pickersgill was expected to be interviewed, most likely this week, by police who are trying to unearth information that could provide answers as to why Pickersgill received two cheques totalling $2 million drawn on the account of Wright, one of three persons implicated in the Cuban light bulb affair.
The cheques - one in the amount of $1,907,300 and the other for $92,700 - were both dated October 8, 2007 and lodged on October 9, 2007 to the PNP chairman's account.
But Pickersgill quickly dismissed any suggestions of wrong-doing, saying he had received the money as payment for a four-year-old Crown motor car that he had sold to Kern Spencer, the former junior energy minister at the centre of the scandal.
Pickersgill said the money was paid out of Wright's account, because "everything is in their joint name, they were doing it together". He dismissed suggestions of any wrong-doing, saying the payments were not linked to the light bulb affair.
"Let me say, this transaction (car payment) took place on the eighth of October. The first time I heard anything about what is now described as the Cuban light bulb issue was on the 23rd of October in Parliament when Mr (Clive) Mullings spoke. All this is part of an attempt to embroil me in what is now described as the Cuban Bulb Issue," Pickersgill told the Sunday Observer.
Spencer, Wright and businesman Rodney Chin are out on bail after being arrested and charged, as police deepened their probe into the scandal over new energy minister, Clive Mullings' claims that apparent hanky-panky led to the then government spending over $267 million to distribute four million fluorescent bulbs, a gift from Cuba to the Jamaican people.
In January, the auditor general reported that about 176,380 of the four million bulbs, costing approximately $92 million, could not be accounted for, while there was an absence of an effective system of budgetary control, resulting in the making of payments and the incurring of unpaid obligations of $185.3 million over the approved financial support of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.
Contractor general Greg Christie followed that up with a damning report, alleging "a very strong inference of an unlawful criminal conspiracy and corruption" in the award of contracts under the project.
But Pickersgill was adamant that the money he received had nothing to do with the light bulb affair.
"This all has to do with the sale of a motor car I owned up until the eight of October, last year, a Crown motor car, a four-year-old car. I made it known that the car was for sale, and Mr Kern Spencer approached me about the purchase of the car and I indicated to him that there were others who were interested so, if he really wanted to purchase the car, make arrangements quickly," he said in a statement to the Sunday Observer.
"He then came back in the company of one Miss Coleen Wright, and they said to me that they would give me a cheque to hold the purchase of the car and, by the following day, they would complete the arrangements with the bank. She did that and, true to form, the following day I called the bank and they said I could lodge the cheque.
"I did that and then I delivered the car. There is a lien on the car and a bill of sale on the car by the NCB. A bill of sale and a lien is on, so (there is) no doubt about the transaction and the authenticity of the transaction because it was by way of a bank loan," he added.
Pickersgill said the transaction was "an upfront, legal transaction, a normal transaction and anyone who is interested, if it were not so much an attempt to embroil me in something, the checks could have been made quite easily and ascertain what really transpired and in that regard I have absolutely nothing to hide".
He repeated his charge that "I don't think anybody really wanted to find that out. The paper trail is there and the transaction has been properly documented so anyone who genuinely wants to know the truth can check it".
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