The Tribune

By Leandra Rolle

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A SENIOR manager of the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC), who claimed to be related to Adrian Gibson, testified that the companies awarded contracts to paint water tanks when Mr Gibson was executive chairman were not on the corporation’s approved contractor list nor known to engineers.

Deidre Taylor, head of the WSC’s engineering and planning department, claimed that when she asked how Elite Maintenance and Adams Landscaping were going to do the work given the nature of their business, former WSC general manager Elwood Donaldson told her they could be general contractors that subcontract other companies.

She said as a result of this information, she went to the corporation’s accounts department to get the companies’ contact information.

“The contact person they had on Elite was Alexandria Mackey,” she said. “They gave me Adams Landscaping and the contact person was Peaches Farquharson.”

Ms Taylor claimed that her department neither assessed nor gave recommendations for the tanks to be refurbished.

“The only thing we did by the request of the general manager is take pictures,” she said.

Earlier yesterday, Ms Taylor recalled that Mr Donaldson called her in April 2020 to inquire about the costs of painting water tanks, which she estimated was between $164k to $213k after doing research.

When asked whether her department received a bid for the works, she told the court “no.”

She also recalled visiting the sites before the renovation works were done, saying the visit was slightly different from previous ones because the companies given the contracts were not known to her department.

She also recalled writing two draft letters of agreement –– a written document that specifies the terms of the contract –– for Elite Maintenance and Adams Landscaping in June 2020.

The senior WSC employee said days later that Mr Donaldson instructed her to make amendments, including a name change.

She claimed she was told to put Tanya Demeritte’s name on Elite Maintenance’s letter instead of Alexandria Mackey’s.

“Did you receive any documents from Mr Donaldson,” asked Crown Prosecutor Cordell Frazier, the acting Director of Public Prosecutions.

Ms Taylor later noted that she received letters of agreement signed by the contractors for six water tanks.

However, she later revealed that only five tanks had work done because the project’s scope changed.

She was asked about contracts related to painting WSC buildings on University Drive, the E George Moss Building and Somerset House.

She said she became aware of the painting works after returning to work from vacation.

She said she later learned that Baha Maintenance was awarded the contract.

Asked if a procurement process was carried out for that project, she said Mr Donaldson told her the board executed a process.

The project cost $254,000.

Ms Taylor testified that when she looked at the job’s cost, she contacted Mr Donaldson and asked him for documentation supporting the cost because it was higher than she estimated.

“He indicated that there’s a quantity surveyor report that will highlight all of the costs for the job,” she added.

Asked about the surveyor’s cost estimates, Ms Taylor replied that the George Moss building was estimated at $114,440 while Somerset House was estimated at $49,479.

Ms Taylor will return for continued cross-examination at the next hearing.

Mr Gibson is charged with Mr Donaldson, Jr, Rashae Gibson, Joan Knowles, Peaches Farquharson and Jerome Missick.

Together, the group face 98 charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, fraud, receiving and money laundering.

Damian Gomez, KC, Murrio Ducille, KC, Bryan Bastian, Raphael Moxey, Christina Galanos, Ian Cargill and Donald Saunders represent the defendants.

Ms Frazier, Cashena Thompson and Karine MacVean are the Crown prosecutors.