The Editor, Sir:

I write to clarify a matter of some public importance which was discussed in your Editorial on Wednesday, July 23, and which is of concern to the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) and to me.

Having alluded to the Contractor General's Report of investigation into the Procurement of Contracts for the 4M Light Bulb Distribution Project, your editorial asserts, inter alia, that you are disturbed "that information from the Cubans that several thousand of the bulbs never arrived in Jamaica appeared to have been suppressed".

You then concluded your editorial with the remark that "Christie may not have been privy to the information, so he may find it useful to provide an addendum to the document (ie, the OCG's Report of Investigation) in the interest of fairness".

We wish to make the following clear:

(a) In conformance with the requirements of the Contractor General Act and the mandates of the contractor general under the Act, the terms of reference of the OCG's Investigation into the 4M Light Bulb Distribution Project were strictly confined to matters which were associated with the award of contracts under the project. The OCG's investigation did not in any way seek to enquire into, nor did it enquire into, the issue of whether the bulbs which were earmarked for the project were all accounted for.

No finding or conclusion

(b) The OCG's Report of Investigation did not discuss or comment upon this matter and, most important, no finding or conclusion was made in the OCG's Report regarding same.

(c) Contrary to the inferences which were made in your editorial, it is the Auditor General's Report, and not the Contractor General's Report, which addressed the issue of the "Accounting for the bulbs". The matter was comprehensively addressed on page 3 of the Auditor General's Report and also on page 13 of the report where, in the 'Summary of Conclusions', it clearly states that among the "summary of the major inadequacies identified" was the "apparent shortage of 187,380 bulbs".

Never privy to

(d) The OCG was never privy to and is not now privy to the information which is alleged to have recently surfaced regarding the alleged whereabouts of the subject bulbs.

(e) Media reports have suggested that the referenced information came to the attention of the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy in or about January 2008. In this regard, it is critically instructive to note that that there was no mention of this information in the permanent secretary's November 16, 2007, or December 11, 2007, written responses to those of the formal Requisitions of the Contractor General which were directed to her.

We trust that this information has assisted in clarifying for your readers not just the comments which were made in your editorial, but also the non-involvement of the OCG in this matter.

I am, etc.,

GREG CHRISTIE

Contractor General