PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure VROMI Egbert Doran, on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers press briefing, refused to answer a question about his relationship to the owner of the sole proprietorship Avyanna Clean Up & Construction Company, about which the Ombudsman received complaints.
The company was recently mentioned in a report from the Ombudsman about the tendering process for solid waste collection.
Avyanna Clean Up & Construction Company was awarded a five-year contract by VROMI Minister Doran for garbage collection in District 5, namely Cay Hill, Mount William to Bush Road. The company represents 920,634 Netherlands Antillean guilders (US $514,320) in the government budget.
Avyanna, registered at the Chamber of Commerce under number 26110, is the sole proprietorship of Mhalik Ottley (26), younger brother of Minister of Public Housing, Social Development and Labor VSA Omar Ottley and cousin of Minister Doran.
When reporter Ralph Cantave asked Minister Doran on Wednesday about a possible conflict of interest, Doran gaslighted the reporter, saying: “I would like for you to clarify, Mr. Cantave. Because at the end of the day, when we ask certain questions and we make certain statements, can you clarify if what you just mentioned just now was written in the Ombudsman report? With regards to relatives? And clarify what you mean?”
Cantave tried to answer the question, referring to the Ombudsman report, but was interrupted by the minister: “What you mentioned about relatives as well.” To which Cantave replied: “It is clear – the island is small, we hear that often from the ministers as well – that the contractor Avyanna that won the bid is a relative of yours and of the Minister of VSA. This happens to be the case, so how do you respond to such a situation?”
Minister Doran responded: “I am not related to any company,” to which Cantave replied: “Not to the company but related to the owner of the company.”
Doran then said: “I am related to a lot of people, and I think that I am related to maybe multiple owners of different companies that do business with government. Trying to make a certain insinuation like that is, I think, quite unprofessional.”
The minister again asked for clarification. Cantave noted: “I would say that the report is very clear.” He then quoted from the Ombudsman report on the systemic investigation into the tendering and awarding process of the Solid Waste Collection 2021-2026.
On page 17 the Ombudsman writes about missing bank statements from two of the bidders, namely Garden Boyz and Avyanna. “Contractors are required to submit the tender in triplicate,” the Ombudsman wrote. “It appears that both companies did not comply with this requirement in one or more parcels, specifically pertaining to the bank letter. It is unclear how Garden Boyz’ missing bank statement was further addressed [by the committee – Ed.].”
Based on documentation reviewed, there were no further discussions on the topic, but Avyanna’s missing bank letter resulted in heated discourse within the committee, the Ombudsman stated. “Apparently, Avyanna’s bank statement ‘appeared out of the blue’ while it was not present at the time the members of the committee were conducting the evaluation of the documents/completeness check. After the completeness check process was completed, a cabinet member of the committee appeared with a document, stating that it was overlooked. Other members of the committee, not being cabinet members, indicated that this was not the case and reiterated that the company in question did not have the triplicate documents at the start of the process as required.”
A discussion ensued between two members of the committee regarding where the document originated, as the document verification form was signed by seven persons, according to the report. “During the hearings, when questioned about a document being overlooked, the cabinet members struggled to explain the incident coherently. One cabinet member stated that a document was overlooked. Another said one of the boxes was not evaluated and/or one of the parcels was not evaluated. As a result, they had to be redone (‘we had to go back and finish and complete the evaluation’).”
Upon further questioning the clarification was given to the Ombudsman that one bid was overlooked, the entire bid from Avyanna. “The other cabinet staffer indicated that the box that had Avyanna’s documents was overlooked. As the department was responsible for the securing of the documents the cabinet members were not aware of the specific circumstances, other than the box/bid was overlooked.”
The Ombudsman stated that the minister of VROMI requested the department head to investigate these allegations and to report his findings via memo of March 19, 2021. However, the Ombudsman noted that “based on the documentation reviewed, the issue regarding Avyanna’s ‘missing’ bank letter was not investigated any further by the ministry.”
Cantave asked Minister Doran, given the fact that he is related to the owner of Avyanna, and the Ombudsman report in itself is a damning report, how he responds to this, “whether you consider it professional, or not, Minister.” Doran: “I never said that the report isn’t professional. I just mentioned that your insinuations at the end confuse the general public with respect to …” The minister was interrupted by Cantave, asking: “What exactly is confusing?” Moderator Roylyka Roache addressed the reporter: “Mr. Cantave, please let’s not banter with the minister.”
Minister Doran continued: “Indeed, I remember the situation. I requested from the then acting head [of VROMI] to give me a full report on the discussion that took place with the two committee members that had a disagreement on it. That was resolved, in the sense of … the answer came in. If they overlooked a box, I cannot tell you how six members could have overlooked a box or why they overlooked the box – I can never give a response to that. However, what I do know is that the particular company did apply for multiple districts and in all the other boxes, everything was there. So, to say it mysteriously appeared there and not in the other boxes, I think is more objective and guiding it towards a certain narrative, as you are trying to do right now, and I don’t think that is so fair or clear in terms of the truth.”
Doran acknowledged the issue as being very serious. He concluded: “Ultimately, I have to carry the responsibility of it, and that is why I introduced legal checks; I even now introduced where every committee would be comprised of members who don’t deal with the preparation of the terms of reference. Because what you had in the past is that somebody prepares the terms of reference, participates in the bid, then evaluates the bid and awards it as well, and writes the advice.”
Minister Doran said, “In my humble opinion this creates a lot of room for mistakes.” Therefore, he changed it up, he said.
Among the five companies selected by VROMI to receive a five-year garbage collection contract, Avyanna was the only sole proprietorship.
The 26-year-old owner of Avyanna was sentenced on March 29, 2022, to an unconditional prison sentence of five months for violent abuse of the man B.T.B. on the public road. This incident took place before the tendering of the garbage collection contracts.
The victim stated that on the morning of September 27, 2020, at the Madame Estate Cake House, “Mhalik Ottley, Dante Ottley and Stevevanus Richardson attacked me. They used their hands to punch me in my face and upper body. They were all three hitting me and boxing me while I was on the ground.”
Mhalik Ottley was given an unconditional prison sentence because the Court took into account “the fact that the defendant, according to his criminal record, has already been finally convicted of a similar offence.”
Dante Ottley and Stevevanus Richardson were also convicted of the assault, in addition to their sentences to 20 and 18 years, respectively, for murder and attempted murder on New Year’s Eve 2018 in the murder case known as the “El Capitan” shooting.
Mhalik Ottley was also charged with possession of a weapon and ammunition but was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
His lawyer asked the judge during the hearing of the case not to give Mhalik Ottley an unconditional sentence for the abuse of B.T.B. because he has a family and is rebuilding his life after serving the previous prison sentence. It was mentioned in Court that he signed a five-year contract with the government.
