Man gets nine months for stealing $61,600 in cigarettes
A man was on Friday sentenced to nine months in jail after he admitted to stealing $61,600 in cigarettes.
Rohan Chan stood in the courtroom of Magistrate Leron Daly who read a charge which stated that on July 17, at Charlestown, he broke and entered the dwelling house of Rondell Hunt, and stole 17 cartons of cigarettes, valued at $61,600.
According to the prosecutor’s facts, on the day in question, the complainant secured his shop and went home. About 9:10 hrs. on the very day, a friend of Hunt went to his home with a small bag containing a quantity of cigarettes, and told him that the defendant had stolen the items. Chan was arrested and told of the allegation. He later confessed to the crime and gave the police a caution statement.
When asked by the magistrate if he wished to say anything before sentencing, he asked for leniency.
He was later sentenced for the crime. invited to submit tenders; or if the estimated cost is within the threshold allowed under the regulations (G$3,000,000 in the case of goods and services and G$10,000,000, in the case of works),” he added while pointing out that there is a request for quotations if the procurement does not exceed the allowable limit of $1.5 million.
But in the case of an emergency, or in order to avoid a catastrophic event, where there is an urgent need for the goods and services and it is impractical to use methods of procurement, such as open tendering and restricted tendering, where time is of importance, a request for single sourcing may be granted, Jordan noted.
However, he pointed out that it was “subject to a case being made, with the endorsement of the competent authority (e.g. The Head of the Budget Agency or the Board, as in the case of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation).”
However, the NPTAB did not approve four contracts, totaling $631,913,655, for the supply of the emergency drugs, which GPHC said was single-sourced under Section 28 C of the Procurement Act. The breakdown of awardees and the respective sums are as follows: Health 2000, $2,923,900; New GPC Inc., $20,888,610; Chirosyn Discovery, $2,138,925; and ANSA McAL, $605,962,200.
The document explained that “the items were required urgently and it was impractical to use the open or restricted method of procurement, due to the time required to utilize those methods of procurement.”
Chairman of the NPTAB Berkley Wickham had previously told Stabroek News that the procurement body was unaware of the procurement and did not approve them.
The drugs were single-sourced unknown to NPTAB and then a letter was sent to Wickham after the awards asking for his agency’s approval. “I have not approved any money because I cannot (do it) just like that. I saw the letter and I said what craziness is this because that is not how it is done. Someone can’t just send a letter to me to approve six hundred and something million dollars, so I notified [Public Health] Minister [Volda] Lawrence,” he had said.