By TANEKA THOMPSON

Tribune News Editor

tmthompson@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) Executive Chairman Leslie Miller strongly denied allegations he “influenced procurement decisions” or evaded the process altogether when he headed the board of directors, telling The Tribune every contract awarded during his tenure was given to the lowest bidder.

He refuted the litany of claims contained in an audit report conducted by Ernst & Young (EY) into Bahamas Power and Light, formerly called BEC. One allegation is that his company, Mario’s Bowling and Entertainment Palace was paid more than $50,000 by BEC for unspecified services.

It was also alleged Mr Miller, former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) MP for Tall Pines, wrote to two officials at BEC that the board had requested two contracts be given to AL D’s Construction & Roofing instead of two other recommended bidders.

According to the audit, AL D’s Construction & Roofing is owned by Alvin Davis, brother of PLP Leader Philip “Brave” Davis, who was deputy prime minister and minister of works at the time. The report found that AL D’s Construction was paid more than what the lower, recommended bidders had offered.

Mr Davis could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Mr Miller repeatedly claimed to be unaware of AL D’s Construction or its connection to Mr Davis’ sibling.

At one point when asked again about contracts being awarded to AL D’s Construction, Mr Miller deflected, replying: “These guys got to stop these foolishness. Many small contracts were given out based on the value of the job, okay, like they did too. This blaming all the time, go try to run the country.”

Defending himself on the contract awarding process in general, Mr Miller said the executive chairman does not make decisions on the awarding of contracts by himself but the process is something the board would decide in the best interest of the corporation.

“How could the chairman have influence on contracts? The board was giving out all the contracts and the record would show that,” Mr Miller said. “And every contract that we gave out, there was value for money. I don’t know how they could arrive at conclusion.”

He also said: “The chairman doesn’t make those decisions by himself, the board would have made those decisions, whatever decisions were made they were made by the board in the best interest of the corporation and the country. And I assure you that every single contract that we gave out went to the lowest bidder. I don’t know if they had contracts they didn’t show us and now they are complaining about it.”

When asked about the audit’s finding that his business, Mario’s Bowling and Entertainment Palace, received $52,192 from BEC since 2012, Mr Miller scoffed at this.

“That’s a bowling entity, what could they do? I am totally unaware of what you are talking about.”

He said he had no concerns about how he handled matters at BEC, saying he helped save the utility provider millions of dollars while looking out for the small man.

“What angers me you know, all the work that this board did, I don’t think no board in the history of BEC could come close to what we did on behalf of the Bahamian people.

“When we left BEC, the cost per kilowatt hour was down to 31 cents per kilowatt hour, it is now up to 43 or 46 cents. When we went to BEC, the overtime was $12m a year, when we left we had it under six – we saved the corporation over $20m.

“When we were at BEC, reconnectors and disconnectors were making as much as $97,000 a year – we stopped that and hired 20 Bahamians to get a decent paying job and still save the corporation over half a million dollars.”

He said before he was appointed to BEC, the corporation lost in excess of $200m during the previous 10 years.

“We did what we were supposed to do on behalf of the Bahamian people. We gave people breaks with paying their bills, and they were angry with some of the things that we did because we turned on over 4,000 people that was off.”

When confronted with the allegations contained in the audit, at one point Mr Miller asked how “all of this points towards me” and questioned if the claims against him were politically motivated.

He then pointed the finger at the Free National Movement, saying there were lax practices when the party was last in power.

“I don’t expect no more, the guys playing politics and it’s a pity that a company of the magnitude of this firm is also playing politics. It’s really a pity.

“. . . Don’t forget the stealing that went on – it wasn’t under our watch,” he said referring to the nearly $2m fraud scheme uncovered by EY. “That happened after we left.”