THE CUBAN government appears to have claimed responsibility for most of the bulbs the auditor general had identified as missing in his special report on the Cuban light-bulb programme.

Michael Peart, opposition spokesman on mining and energy, read what he said was an extract from a report on the Cuban light-bulb programme, prepared by permanent secretary in the energy ministry, Dr Jean Dixon.

"The Cubans have said that the shortfall of 249,800 bulbs is the responsibility of the Cuban govern-ment," Peart said in Parliament yesterday.

The Gleaner was made privy to the report prepared by Dixon, a section of which read: "... I recovered from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade a copy of a note from the Embassy of Cuba in Jamaica which advised of the shortfall of 249,800 bulbs in two shipments that were sent to Jamaica from Cuba and confirming that the shortfall was the responsibility of the Cuban side."

Up to press time last night, Dixon could not be reached for comments.

Missing bulbs

In January, a report prepared by then Auditor General Adrian Strachan stated that about 176,380 of the four million bulbs donated by the Cuban government were missing. The missing bulbs were estimated to have cost $92 million.

The Cuban light-bulb programme, an energy saving initiative of the past People's National Party administration, became shrouded in controversy after the Jamaica Labour Party government took office last September.

Kern Spencer, the former state minister in the energy ministry who had responsibility for the project, was jailed along with three others for their role in the programme.

Despite the police reading out numerous charges of money laundering, fraud and corruption, Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn is yet to formally charge the former government minister for his role in the bulb distribution project which cost the country $276 million.