Corruption taking place on the Berkeley School project will make the Bermuda Housing Corporation look like a Sunday school picnic, a Works and Engineering officer allegedly told UBP candidate Roger Russell.

According to a sworn affidavit by Mr. Russell, which was released to The Royal Gazette on Friday, problems run deep at the Government megaproject and the officer he has been publicly accused of stalking and harassing has repeatedly offered him information on the $70 million job.

Mr. Russell claims corruption at the site reaches as high as the ministerial level and that the officer who made him aware of the problems has been threatened with losing his job and fears for his safety and that of his family.

The statement alleges materials and labour intended for the school are being redirected to the homes of Members of Parliament and other key staff and that the project budget is covering the purchasing of equipment which should be the responsibility of the general contractor.

He also claims documents and progress reports are routinely falsified to overstate quality and progress of the job.

Mr. Russell swore out the statement in response to comments made by Minister of Works and Engineering Alex Scott in Parliament on April 26.

Citing Mr. Russell only as “an approved UBP candidate” Mr. Scott said he had stalked and harassed a W&E officer in an attempt to secure documents related to the project.

Mr. Scott referred to these activities as “what appears to me to be a cunning, political, destabilisation campaign”.

The five-page statement given to The Royal Gazette offers Mr. Russell's first comment on the Mr. Scott's allegations - which have since been forwarded to the Attorney General's chambers as a formal complaint.

In the statement, Mr. Russell claims the price tag on Berkeley may soar as high as $100 million as a result of unnecessary delays and pilfering of materials and labour.

Mr. Russell said information was voluntarily offered to him by a Works and Engineering officer and categorically denies stalking or harassing that officer or his wife.

“I have known the officer ever since 1998 and we became friends though our collective efforts working on other Government projects,” he said in the statement. Mr. Russell claims he and the officer spoke many times about Berkeley, both on the telephone and in person, and he was told:

Proactive Management Services never qualified during the prequalifying for the tender on the Berkeley School;

the general contractor did not have the experience to be awarded such a massive contract due to lack of expertise in construction;

the general contractor only formed his construction company after being awarded the contract and his company was not registered;

the bond for the project was not in place;

the price to complete the project will be between $95 and $100 million; and,

Bermuda Tech should have been awarded the contract.

Mr. Russell said the officer also expressed serious concerns about the level of corruption.

He claims the officer told him work schedules were always changing and that changes to the list of subcontractors are causing unnecessary delays.

“Every time he would instruct the general contractor not to make these changes, the general contractor would simply ignore him and never complied,” Mr. Russell said.

“The officer told me that the general contractor threatened to report him to the Minister of Works and Engineering to have him removed from the site.

“The officer said he was sick and tired of the Minister having him complete and sign off on Certificates of Payments for the general contractor and Proactive Management Services when, according to field inspections, the percentage of completion does not add up. They are wrong. He said the general contractor has received too much money already.”

Mr. Russell said the Minister insisted that the officer sign off on purchases of steel and a crane although, customarily, the general contractor would have owned the needed equipment.

“The officer said that he had to go to Canada, instructed by the Minister to pay for the steel and miscellaneous equipment himself,” Mr. Russell said in his statement. “When he arrived at the steel company, he found the quantity surveyor and the general contractor there. The general contractor told (the) officer that the Minister had told them he was on his way with a cheque to pay for the steel.

“The officer discovered that materials earmarked for the Berkeley School site were being rerouted and delivered to other job sites.

“Also, construction employees billed the school site while working on the private homes of key staff.

“Materials and employees were used on homes belonging to certain Members of Parliament.

“The officer asked the general contractor about what he did with all the money he has received, the general contractor told the officer he does not have to explain anything to him.”

Mr. Russell admitted he spoke with the officer's wife outside the nursery school the couple's children attend.

He claims he went to the school hoping to meet the officer but spoke to the wife instead after a staff member pointed her out to him.

“I told her that her husband had informed me that he would be a political scapegoat as the Berkeley School site has many problems and that he had strong feelings that the Police were going to raid his office at Works and Engineering and his home looking for any document(s) that could cripple the government and cause considerable damage,” Mr. Russell said in his statement.

“It was at this point that she became extremely mad with the PLP government, especially (the) Minister and another Member of Parliament who she said that she had a fight with when she was working with him, and now they were picking on her husband.

“She said her husband was only trying to do his job and that she hated them with a passion and would not vote for the PLP again. She feared for his safety and that he could not trust anyone on the job including his supervisor who completely ignored him. His supervisor wanted nothing to do with the Berkeley site.”

Mr. Russell said he made no mention of lawyers during the conversation but later the woman called him at home and was “trying to put words in my mouth”.

He also claims the officer told him he went to a meeting at the Stonington Beach Hotel with senior members of Parliament.

“During the meeting they wanted him to change his reports, he refused, walked out of the meeting and told them he would not be involved in any corruption,” Mr. Russell said in the statement.

Last night, Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott said the Mr. Russell's allegations were very serious but he not yet seen a copy of the affidavit.

Mr. Scott said he had not released the name of the individual - in his conversations with The Royal Gazette Mr. Scott never referred to Mr. Russell by name - and his first knowledge of the document was when Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons read a portion in the House of Assembly on Friday.

“There are very serious allegations,” Mr. Scott said. “I haven't heard them before and I haven't seen any proof.

“I think saying anything at this point would be giving credence to what are now just allegations.”

Mr. Scott said he expected the document would become part of the Police investigation which is being carried out on the matter.

He also expressed surprise that the Opposition UBP had chosen to support Mr. Russell rather than distancing themselves from his activities.

“I was very surprised in Parliament that Dr. Gibbons did not distance himself and the UBP from what appears to be a campaign to get information illegally

out of Works and Engineering,” he said.

He said he had no idea what information the UBP thought they might get out of the Ministry but Dr. Gibbons' actions seem to “endorse or support” what occurred without offering any sympathy to the family who were harassed.

Mr. Scott said the UBP seem to be a party to these activities and that was something the investigation into the matter would have to look at.

“He didn't spend any time (in Parliament) condemning him, he only put time on supporting him and I think that is to be regretted,” Mr. Scott said.