According to the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), allegations are that between December 2016 and May 2018, Dr Perceval Bahado-Singh fraudulently claimed several reimbursements and was paid paid US$73,620 by Petrojam for overseas business trips that he did not attend.

MOCA said it conducted a thorough multi-jurisdictional investigation into these allegations, prepared and submitted a file to the director of public prosecutions, who ruled that criminal charges be filed.

The Opposition Spokesman pointed out that some of these claims were exposed in Parliamentary contributions by the Opposition at the time.  Senator Bunting said the public should recall the scandalous corruption and waste of taxpayers funds exposed via a Comprehensive Audit of Petrojam Ltd. by the Auditor General’s Department in 2018.

He said this was further amplified in the 2019 hearings on the Report by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.  Notwithstanding the catalogue of waste and abuse identified in that Report, this is the first case of criminal charges being laid in the sordid affair.

The Opposition senator congratulated MOCA For their tenacity and thoroughness in conducting a multi-jurisdictional investigation into the allegations which resulted in criminal charges being filed.

Senator Bunting, a former minister of national security, said the establishment of the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) in 2014 by the PNP administration was designed to address this type of corruption since the JCF focuses on the overwhelmingly high level of violent crime.

Bahado-Singh has been offered bail and is to appear in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court Wednesday March 17.

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