A Kingston businessman is questioning the motives of the police, the Transport Authority and wrecker operators, following an incident that led to the seizure of his company's vehicle. He will stop at nothing in his quest for redress and justice.

His disclosure comes in the wake of a recent Sunday Gleaner's article, 'Wrecker racket', which exposed the corruption in the industry.

Christopher Kennedy, managing director of Eagle and Whale Limited, says a motor truck belonging to his company was seized by a member of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) On Friday, November 9, 2007, because the license plate at the rear of the motor truck was not clearly visible.

In a letter addressed to Dr Alwin Hales, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works, and the Public Defender's office, Kennedy said that while the seizure of a vehicle for an obscured licence plate did not merit the vehicle being towed, the company's contention was more with the procedures that were followed by the police officer and the action that was deemed necessary by the Transport Authority.

Irregular proceedure

"There must be something inherently wrong when a police constable picks up his cellular telephone and calls a wrecker driver to inform him that he has a vehicle for him," the letter stated. "I found this procedure to be quite irregular. But I was further astounded when I visited the Transport Authority, where the vehicle was being held, and was given a deposit slip to make a cash deposit into the bank account of a wrecking company before the vehicle could be released.

"While we cannot categorically state that something corrupt happened here," the document continued, "the system as is, will definitely encourage corruption."

However, Keith Goodison, managing director of the Transport Authority, says that the current arrangement has been in place for "a long time now" and it is the first time he is receiving such a complaint.

No loophole for corruption

"We provide vouchers to our motorist to pay the wrecker fee to a reputable institution agreed on by the (wrecker) operators and ourselves," Goodison explains. After he returns with his proof of payment, he is required to pay the Transport Authority storage cost, after which the vehicle is released. As far as I am concerned, there is no loophole for corruption."

Adds Goodison: "We can only (charge) fees that we have agreed with them ... and we have been charging the same fee for the past two years."

When contacted, Cheddy McLean, information and complaints officer at the Public Defender's office, discloses that the Public Defender's office is giving these reports special attention.

"Due to the great number of complaints that we have been receiving in relation to similar incidents, we have an investigator that is dealing with them specifically, and these investigations are ongoing." He says there has been redress in instances where the cases deal with compensation issues.