Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter

Attorney, Catholic deacon and People's National Party (PNP) politician Ronnie Thwaites has denied owing over $12 million to the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC), a sum that they had demanded in writing, he confirmed.

Speaking to The Gleaner, Mr. Thwaites, who is the PNP candidate for Central Kingston, described it as "totally incorrect" that he owed the sum arising from legal work that his firm Daly, Thwaites & Company conducts on behalf of provident societies which hold accounts with the NHDC.

"In fact, they owe me money," he countered. Thwaites said he was unable to clarify the sum since he was away from his office where the relevant paperwork was kept.

Accounting flaws

His firm handles documentation for sale and transfer of properties on behalf of Operation PRIDE provident societies. The NHDC is the project manager for Operation PRIDE housing schemes.

"I wrote back to them and told them that it was out of the inefficiency of their accounting that this matter arose," Thwaites said in reference to the letter that NHDC had sent him in March concerning the 'outstanding balance'.

Acting NHDC Managing Director Joseph Shoucair acknowledged that the corporation had been inefficient in checking documentation, but attributed this to a lack of staffing. Shoucair said Thwaites' firm had been paid upon presentation of invoices and documentation which were checked but not fully verified.

He said that it was Thwaites' firm that needed to correct its paperwork.

Shoucair said that in order to prevent future discrepancies, the NHDC had decided to stop making payments to law firms until documentation was fully verified.

"It will never happen again, because we are never going to pay monies until documents are verified," he said.

He declined comment on the sum involved: "Yes, a substantial sum is involved, but there is value in the work that has been done (by Mr. Thwaites' firm), but we have to ensure that the job is completed so there is value for money."

A private dispute

However, both men played down the issue, acknowledging past discrepancies which were successfully reconciled. Both said that the scale of the work - Thwaites estimated that over 30,000 clients and twice as many documents were involved - complicated matters.

"It's a private dispute between clients, their attorney and a third party, the NHDC - it's not a scandal!" said Thwaites.

Thwaites acknowledged that he heard rumours that Opposition Spokesman on Finance Audley Shaw planned to use the matter in his Budget speech in Parliament this week.

However, when contacted Shaw said that he was aware of an audit being done at the NHDC, but would not comment on the likely content of his Budget speech.

ross.sheil@gleanerjm.com