Probe cancer centre: Rafeeq

Former Trinidad and Tobago Health Minister Dr Hamza Rafeeq has written to Auditor General Sharman Ottley asking him to investigate the construction of the National Oncology Centre, which is being built at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, in Mount Hope.

The member of Parliament for Caroni Central said in a news release Monday the auditor general has the authority under the constitution (Section 116: 9 of the Exchequer and Audit Act) to conduct the investigation.

Rafeeq said the project is a "scandal" and urged the probe as a means of "protecting the public purse from further abuse."

Rafeeq wants Ottley to look into the transaction of the centre with identifying causes of the problems that have plagued it. Further he wants the to accounting official to determine whether anyone used to system to gain "illegitimate personal profit."

He suggested that if the project is left as it is there will be a further waste of public funds.

Government has spent more than $100 million on the project, according to figures presented in the House of Representatives by Helath Minister Jerry Narace last month.

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Narace said the government is seeking new contractors because it was unhappy with the performance of the internationally renowned Ellis Don, which has built dozens of health care facilities in Canada and other first world nations.

The project is being funded with a loan of $150 million from the Inter-American Development Bank.