In February, 2009, Telecom Fiji Limited commissioned a company called VK Rattan Digging Works in Rakiraki to carry out road works at Koro’O and South Ridge station.
Defying company regulation, the contract was awarded to V K Rattan without any tender and as such there was no other quotations obtained except for the one from VK Rattan with a quote amounting to $197,530.
But the TFL “Release of Funds for Capital Expenditure” form we obtained, signed by TFL executives Samuela Vadei and its Sri Lankan CFO, Kapila Chandrasekera,was much more than the $197,530 quoted by VK Rattan.
Funds approved by the duo and paid out was $270,734, which is $73,204 more than the initial quote.
So where did that $73,204 go? Or should we say – whose pocket did the $73,204 end up in.
Let’s allow $15,000 for contingency, but the question that should be asked is, why should a contractor be paid extra when TFL could have easily fixed the project price at the quoted amount given by VK Rattans of $197,530 and anything above that should be borne by the contractor?
Anyway, after allowing for $15,000 contingency, what happened to the remaining $58,204?
According to documents we have, TFL management signed it off as “Materials to be purchased”. So which materials were actually purchased for the road works, who purchased it and who supplied it, were relevant receipts obtained from the suppliers to justify the purchase or was the materials to be purchased a lie?
We’ve obtained quotes from other professional service providers like VK Rattan and according to them, they all agreed that the works carried out by VK Rattan would be around $35,000 – $45,000 max.
They were shocked when we told them the $270,734 bill paid by TFL.
“Someone is getting rich very fast from this deal,” said one of them.
“The swines, this is daylight robbery,” said the other.
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