U.D.P. Leader stands by accusations of scandal

And moving right along, there is the U.D.P. accusation of scandal aimed at Education Minister Cordel Hyde’s sister, Jacinta. Barrow and the U.D.P. maintain she headed a sham business enterprise, Green Patch, that collected thousands of dollars for landscaping work never actually performed. Despite P.U.P. denials following his press conference, this morning Barrow stood his ground.

Dean Barrow, Party Leader, U.D.P.

“We have checked with a number of schools, the services were never provided. There were never any upkeep done to the Queen Square Anglican School, there was never any maintenance of grounds or any cleaning done to any other schools, so that is nonsense. The second point is, how you going to tell us in fact this was legitimate and this was a project which employed people and you can’t produce one of them to show the voucher that he or she collected, you can’t produce any kind of payroll or pay sheet. This is government funds you are talking about. But the bottom line is you check with the schools, the services were not provided. Of course he would have to say that the services were provided…”

Janelle Chanona

“So if it was embezzlement, then why not make it a criminal matter then?”

Dean Barrow

“Oh, but it is a criminal matter, except we are not in control of the official processes.”

Janelle Chanona

“So you are not going to hand over the information you have to the police to ask them to do an investigation?”

Dean Barrow

“That’s not a problem, but we know that between now and March fifth, there will be no investigation done by the authorities. We all know the reality of things, after March fifth, for sure, there will be a criminal investigation.”