NO PROPER DUE DILIGENCE

Feb 19, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

There are serious misgivings by the government and state agencies in terms of hiring professionals and awarding contracts to companies. The same is true for City Hall, especially in the awarding of the controversial parking meter contract to Smart City Solutions (SCS), which it knew very little about.
Many believe that it is the worst contract ever awarded to a company in modern times. Since taking office, the government has hired several people and has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to companies.
The awarding of the parking meter contract to SCS is just one example. It should have raised several red-flags after it was discovered that the City would receive only 20 percent of the total revenue collected while SCS would receive 80 percent. The contract was reviewed by the Cabinet and by the Ministries of Legal Affairs, Finance and Communities all of which found problems with the contract. Their disapproval forced a modification of the original contract.
If the City had done due diligence on National Parking Systems (NPS), which secured the contract but later joined with SCS to install solar-powered parking meters in Georgetown, it would have known that something was awry. NPS did not have an address or a website.
It was alleged that it copied information from the website of another company, Parking Advisors of Chicago. City officials would have also found out that the owner of NPS, Ifa Cush, who was the Director of SCS and who signed the contract is a felon.
Information contained in online documents, revealed that on March 15, 2002, Ifa Cush, whose evil remarks led to his forced resignation from SCS had pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the third degree in a Nassau County Court. He was sentenced to four months in jail and five years of probation.
It was only a few months ago that the Mayor had assured the nation that proper due diligence was done on NPS, and that NPS is known to the City Council as a sound company. As it turned out, the Mayor lied. Since its installation, the parking meters have attracted hundreds of protestors from all walks of life.
Many have claimed that the contract is oppressive, reeks of corruption and is viewed as the most disgraceful in modern times. It seems that the protestors will not be placated by a 50 percent reduction in parking rates. They want the contract to be rescinded.
Many believe that either government officials, past and present, do not do due diligence as often as required. Had the last administration done due diligence on Colin Welch before he was hired as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GPL on November 2011, it would not have discovered six months later that he had forged his qualifications.
Although it was known that Welch had faked his qualifications, the present government Ministry promoted him to the position of CEO of GPL after then CEO Bharat Dindyal was fired following a series of bouts with Welch over his management style. FOLLOW
In particular, had the government done due diligence on one of its Ambassadors, it would have discovered that he was convicted of fraud by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2003. Not only did the Ambassador not list Acrodyne Communications in his resume where the fraud occurred, but he did not disclose it to the government either. As the highest ranking diplomats for their countries, Ambassadors should be honest and trustworthy. Not doing proper due diligence could be costly and embarrassing.

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