OCG Wants Off-Shore Companies to Provide More Information

The Office of the Contractor General (OCG), in its annual report, has argued that regulations are needed to address the growing trend of off-shore incorporated private companies receiving Government of Jamaica contracts.
According to the report, which was tabled in the House of Representatives on Sep. 22, Contractor General, Greg Christie, is urging Cabinet to amend the Government Procurement Rules to require that any private corporate entity that is desirous of tendering on any Government of Jamaica contract must, as a pre-requisite, submit to the relevant contracting public body, certified and sworn particulars of its incorporation document, certified particulars of its shareholders and certified particulars of all its beneficial shareholders.
“There is a growing trend of on-shore and off-shore incorporated private companies that are receiving government contracts, but whose shareholders and/or beneficial shareholders are substantially unknown,” the report points out.
“These practices have posed serious concerns for the OCG, particularly regarding the issue of transparency in the expenditure of the taxpayers’ money, given that the overwhelming number of the more than 10,000 Government contracts, valued at over $250 million, that were awarded during the reporting period, was awarded to corporate entities,” the document added.
The report also notes that since the lawful jurisdiction of the Contractor General is confined to Jamaica, the OCG, acting on behalf of the Contractor General, has been generally frustrated in its ability to obtain certified particulars of the shareholders and certified particulars of all the beneficial shareholders of companies which are incorporated in foreign jurisdictions and which have benefitted from Government of Jamaica contracts.