GOB’s Decision to Write-Off Joshua Perdomo’s 40K Grant is Unfortunate, Says Patrick Faber
Patrick Faber
Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber says that government’s decision to write-off a forty thousand dollars loan issued to Joshua Perdomo, son of Cabinet Secretary, is unfortunate. Prime Minister Dean Barrow who is also the Minister of Finance tabled the motion on Friday last during the Sitting of the House of Representatives. As we have been reporting, Perdomo was granted study leave to pursue a Master’s Degree in Forensic Genetics at the University of North Texas. Perdomo, however, failed to honour his agreement and return to work. He has not paid a single cent towards the loan and the P.M. told the House that Perdomo cannot be located. The write-off has not only raise eyebrows but also concerns since he is the son of Carlos Perdomo, who sits a few feet away from the office of the PM and is also a former Minister of Police. According to Faber, details of the write-off were not shared with Cabinet as it is the doing of the Ministry of Finance. Faber says that the matter should be returned to cabinet for discussion to “see what can be done.”
Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister
“I think it is unfortunate and I will say this that I suspect that my other cabinet colleagues will tell you the same thing. While you have to specify in the House, and the prime minister doe this, that is has the support of cabinet and I was not present in the caucus. We normally have caucus the Tuesday before the House meeting. I was away. But I suspect that even if I were in that meeting the details of these write-off motions would not have been discussed. So I am pretty sure that the details were not discussed. It would normally come from the Ministry of Finance that they are doing these write-off motions. As I think most media houses would know who broadcast the house meetings, this is a normal course that they do to write-off the assets that we believe are irrecoverable. I will tell you that I did not see that detail. I suspect my colleagues would say the same. In fact I am able to tell you that the Prime Minister, that while he is the Minister of Finance, he has said that he was not aware that it was the Cabinet Secretary’s son but you will have to ask him for his own answer but that is what he said to me. But that is unfortunate. While I can say that I did not know that it was happening and it was the Cabinet Secretary’s son that is unfortunate and is not the kind of thing that I would support. I am one in cabinet and even if I have an opinion, and I just shared my opinion with you, I cannot speak on behalf of the Cabinet. We will wait to hear what they will say. Certainly if you ask me for my individual view, that is not something that I would have supported. Whether or not the cabinet secretary can locate his son, I don’t know. You are right, it is a big pill to swallow. I don’t believe it is something that is feasible but without getting into all of that and casting aspersions and jumping into conclusions, I think it is fair enough for us to put it back on the table at the cabinet level and see what can be done.”
When Carlos Perdomo was contacted for comment on Thursday, he simply responded that he was out of the country.
