DURING consideration of the 2015 Budget Estimates, it was revealed that in the 2014 Budget, $23 million was allocated by the PPP Government to purchase a high-end Land Cruiser for then Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, but he never got the vehicle.

The disclosure was made yesterday by Hinds’s successor Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, during examination of the 2015 Estimates.
It was disclosed that the $23M was spent by former Finance Minister Ashni Singh on a Land Cruiser and other vehicles, and that the Office of the Prime Minister was used merely “as a parking lot for the multi-million-dollar money-bag.”
It was explained that the money at reference was transferred to the Ministry of Finance and used to buy “one of several elite vehicles that were at the disposal of Minister Singh, and not the then Prime Minister.”
From the sum of $23M, $18.2M was used by the Ministry of Finance to acquire a new Toyota Land Cruiser, while the balance was spent on purchasing a Toyota Corolla and a Toyota Surf.
The three vehicles which were never handed over to the Office of the Prime Minister have since been recovered.
Because the vehicles were never added to the fleet for the Office of the Prime Minister, an allocation of $22 million is now being sought to buy a four-wheel-drive Sports Utility Vehicle for Prime Minister Nagamootoo. This vehicle would be used for travelling to rural and hinterland areas.
It was revealed to the House that between 2012 and 2014, some $50M was voted by the PPP regime to buy vehicles for the Office of the Prime Minister, but when the regime demitted office, only eight old, reconditioned vehicles were recovered. (GINA)