By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

ROBERT Deal, general manager of the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC), continued his testimony in the criminal trial of Long Island MP Adrian Gibson and others yesterday, maintaining that he was not directly involved in a five-tank painting project in 2020, which awarded contracts of $235,000 plus VAT to each contractor.

Mr Deal’s comment was made as Damian Gomez, representing the defence, continued his cross-examination of the witness. Mr Deal agreed with Mr Gomez that a change order was necessary to update the cost of projects in the job jacket.

However, when it was said that no change order was needed for the job jacket to be updated with scope, Mr Deal disagreed. He responded that a change order was necessary as it would include the updated approved funding for the project.

When Mr Gomez said that the WSC financial division authorised payments to vendors on July 7, 2020, Mr Deal said he would need to check the records but believed it was around that time. He explained that the accounts department would have the payment voucher, which would have included a description of the work done.

Mr Gomez put it to the witness that the mobilisation of payment on July 7 for work showed that part of the WSC had one set of documents, while another had a different set with more information unknown to the other half. Mr Deal agreed.

Despite this, Mr Deal disagreed that the engineering and planning department was not current and had different documents from accounts. He went on to say that invoices for the work should be part of the payment vouchers and that these vouchers would include a date of completion for the project.

Mr Gomez said that payment went out to vendors on July 14, 2020, and that one of those companies was Elite Maintenance. He also said that the contracts were first awarded on June 23 2020.

Mr Gomez told the witness that before his department produced the job jacket, they knew a contract had been issued and its value.

Mr Deal responded that he could not say because he was not directly involved in the project. He reiterated that his department prepared the job jacket based on the information they were given.

Mr Deal agreed that he signed a job letter on July 6 while he was deputy general manager. He also said that he had suggested contractors for projects in the past.

The trial, which focuses on allegations of misconduct and failure to declare interests in government contracts, continues with Mr Gibson, former WSC GM Elwood Donaldson Jr, and others facing charges related to their roles in awarding contracts during Mr Gibson’s tenure.

The defence team includes Mr Gomez, Mr Farquharson, Murrio Ducille KC, Ian Cargill, Bryan Bastian, Ryan Eve, and Raphael Moxey. The Crown’s legal team includes acting Director of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazier, Karine MacVean, and others.