Did the country’s top public officer have a business link to a company supplying the Ministry of Defense, and did the Prime Minister know about it? Tonight, John Briceño says he was unaware that Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie served as a director of RSL Group Limited, one of the companies that did business with the ministry. But rather than describing it as a serious breach, the prime minister is framing it as a learning experience for Leslie. That response is now inviting more questions about disclosure, oversight and how potential conflicts of interest are handled at the highest levels of government. Here is how Briceño explained it.
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño
“They were providing more than condiments. There was a number of other items. I don’t remember, but he just told me that there was more than that.”
Reporter
“Were you aware that he owns the company?”
Prime Minister John Briceño
“No, I was not aware.”
Reporter
“Does this appear to be self dealing though?”
Prime Minister John Briceño
“Well he has already pointed out that all he was trying to do was help a family friend and in hindsight you have twenty-twenty vision and he said to me, you know prime minister maybe I should not have allowed, he was not fully aware about all that was taking place. But he has made it very clear, at no time did he call anybody to be able to get no kind of contracts or special favors and obviously when you see the amount of business they got, they were not getting any kind of special favors. So, sometimes we don’t think things through and then you look back and say shux, I could have done it better, different. So, it is a learning process for everybody.”
RSL Group Limited was also among the companies that received multiple payments below ten thousand dollars, though their stake in the entire supply chain was very low.
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