Members of CPTC's production staff monitor a recording from the control room. - Contributed

André Jebbinson, Staff Reporter

The Auditor General's Department is sounding the alarm on the reconstructed main studio at the Arnold Road, St. Andrew, Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC), which was destroyed by fire two years ago.

The new state-of-the-art studio was reopened in March this year, the result of a project with a price tag of over $60 million. But when a team from the Auditor General's Department visited the facilities, it was not to admire, but to scrutinise it.

The department revealed that a few features were unsatisfactory.

Part of the report stated that "three officers were employed at a total cost of $1,876,000 per annum without the necessary approval of the Ministry of Finance. In addition, 13 officers were paid above the approved rates, resulting in excess payments totalling $1,544,528. The Ministry of Finance subsequently directed that the salaries of the 13 officers be frozen".

Angela Patterson, CEO of CPTC, explained, however, that "it was a case of us trying to save on costs. We had employed an outside security firm and that was proving to be too expensive. We decided to pay somebody in-house. We didn't know we have to get approval from the ministry".

"The action coming out of that is we had the position regularised, so it's not like we couldn't," she said.

Specialists' payment

Another item that did not satisfy the Auditor General was a payment made to two specialists who came to Jamaica from the United States to make a proposal for the repair of the studio. The CPTC paid $125,105 for airfare and accommodation for two specialists, only to have their proposal turned turn. The Auditor General did not think payment was justified.

However, Patterson said, "We felt it was justified. When you have a major fire, you want to try everything to do the best you can do in that situation. Had he been in a similar situation, (he would have realised) it is not always easy to say you are going to do things this way or that way."

The report did not stop there. The department revealed that $1.2 million was spent on what was considered unsuitable flooring material. But as Patterson explained, the project had fallen behind schedule and the chemical purchased to cover the floor expired as a result. She went on the say there was no cause for alarm, as the same batch of chemical was used.

When The Sunday Gleaner contacted the Auditor General, A.P. Strachan, he said the matters were resolved, but his team will be going back in to do a final audit. In the meantime, Patterson said she is convinced she made the best decisions.

"He has his opinion and we have ours. He is only doing his job. We have nothing to worry about. We used our best judgement and we did what we had to do," she said.