Former Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson and former General Manager of the Demerara Harbor Bridge Corporation have today been charged with finding only a company to design the new Demerara Harbor Bridge.
They appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly at Georgetown Magistrates’ Court where they were jointly charged with conspiracy to defraud.
Patterson and Adams were released on $ 200,000 bail each.
Attorney Glen Hanoman appeared for Adams while Attorney Ronald Burch-Smith represented Patterson.
They are due to return to court on February 15.
The allegations came from the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) who, last Friday, questioned Patterson and Adams.
Patterson was cleared once in 2019 by researchers from SOCU when it comes to the $ 62M single-source contract to Dutch company Lievense CSO for the design and feasibility study of the new Demerara River bridge.
However, the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and the Auditor General had drawn the attention of Patterson to ask the Cabinet at the time that the feasibility contract would come from individual sources instead of being processed through the National Procurement Board and Administering Tender (NPTAB).
The PPC had found that, after the bidding process was revoked due to non-tenderers, NPTAB had approved the project to be re-tendered.