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  • 14 minutes ago
The Rural Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago has launched sweeping audits into millions of dollars in contracts awarded under the former administration. Chairman Raees Patel says the probe is already uncovering troubling procurement practices.
Transcript
00:00RDC's Chairman Rees Patel confirmed that full audits are underway into roughly $33 million in contracts, many allegedly linked through
00:09common owners or directors.
00:10He told the Sunday Express the company expects resistance as it moves to enforce stricter governance.
00:17One arrangement now under scrutiny involves a security company that continued providing services for more than four years after its
00:24contract expired.
00:26The original deal, signed in April 2021, was worth $1.3 million a year.
00:32It expired in 2022 but the company kept working on a month-to-month basis.
00:37Then in January 2025, it raised its fees citing minimum wage changes without any new contract or written approval.
00:45Patel says the situation escalated when RDC received a pre-action protocol letter from the company's attirees earlier this year.
00:52That triggered internal legal reviews and consultations with the Attorney General's office.
00:58In response, RDC put its security needs through a new procurement process.
01:02The incumbent provider was invited to bid but lost.
01:05Its arrangements will end on September 30th.
01:09Patel insists the move is not about cutting security but also about regularizing services under proper legal and procurement frameworks.
01:16He says the audits are part of a wider clean-up of inherited practices aimed at restoring transparency and accountability
01:23at the state company.
01:25The RDC chairman maintains that while the company expects pushback,
01:29its new leadership is determined to ensure contracts are properly awarded and managed going forward.
01:35Mark Bessant, TV6 News.
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