Demerara Harbour Bridge boss used $900K company funds to gift himself bracelet

Demerara Harbour Bridge boss used $900K company funds to gift himself bracelet – Audit Report reveals

Dec 31, 2020 News

Int’l Men’s Day celebration…

General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, Rawlston Adams.

Kaieteur News – General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB), Rawlston Adams, 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 the special team recently appointed by Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill, to investigate an alleged racket at the Garden of Eden Asphalt Plant did a little digging.
Yesterday, at the handing over ceremony of the report containing the findings, head of the team, Chateram Ramdihal, shared some details.
He stated, “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 added 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 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.
Kaieteur News attempted to make contact with Adams for a comment on the issue, however, his phone was turned off.
Adams was, nevertheless, quoted in other sections of the media as saying that the Harbour Bridge Board will later issue a statement providing an explanation for the $897,000 purchase.