UPP Urges Independent Probe into $15 Million Vehicle Scandal, Rejects PM Browne’s Account
The opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) is calling for an independent investigation into what it describes as a $15 million scandal involving the unauthorized purchase of hundreds of vehicles through the Ministry of Public Works.
In a statement on Monday, the party said it places “no confidence” in Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s explanation of events, accusing him of offering a “selective narration” that shifts blame away from himself, his wife, and senior ministers.
The UPP said that “no thinking person could credit that a scam of this magnitude was not known to either minister,” adding that if that were true, their “failure to know what was taking place in both their ministries renders them unfit to govern.”
The party also criticized what it called Browne’s “inauthentic attacks on business people” and his “sudden championship of the poor,” saying those remarks “ring hollow after a decade of greedy self-enrichment by Cabinet Ministers.”
According to the release, the UPP views the prime minister’s response as “base pandering and a barely disguised attempt to win the approval of the outraged and exploited taxpayers.”
Citing “transfers and pending reassignments of senior officers” and “the resignation of the Comptroller of Customs,” the opposition said the matter “cannot be swept under the carpet or minimized by acts of fake forgiveness.”
The UPP said Browne should authorize an independent investigation into the Ministry of Public Works “and allow the facts and the testimony to speak for themselves.” It added, “Those who are innocent should have nothing to fear.”
The statement concluded that “if faith and trust in the government systems are to be restored, nothing less than an independent investigation will suffice.”
The release was signed by UPP Political Leader Hon. Jamale Pringle, Chairman Dame D. Gisele Isaac, General Secretary Sen. Shawn M. Nicholas, and Treasurer Mr. Leon George
