- 3 weeks ago
Despite a forensic audit commissioned by the Solid Waste Management Company Limited, finding extensive and ongoing irregularities in the billing practices of Wafiq Transport Limited, the company's suspension was later lifted.
The Ministry of Public Utilities ordered the contractor's reinstatement following an out-of-court settlement, raising serious questions about oversight and accountability.
Tonight, in part two of our investigative series, SWMCOL Troubles, Mark Bassant takes a closer look at the audit findings, exposing concerns that leave more questions than answers.
The Ministry of Public Utilities ordered the contractor's reinstatement following an out-of-court settlement, raising serious questions about oversight and accountability.
Tonight, in part two of our investigative series, SWMCOL Troubles, Mark Bassant takes a closer look at the audit findings, exposing concerns that leave more questions than answers.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Contractor allegations of kickbacks and extortion at Swimcall, allegedly implicating acting CEO Ria Ramdean, exposed only a fraction of the systematic problems undermining the organization.
00:19An independent forensic audit ordered by former Swimcall CEO Sean D'Souza in July 2025 uncovered inflated billing hours for Contractor Wafik Transport Ltd., WTL.
00:31Weak financial controls and payments issued without the mandatory approval of senior Swimcall officials, all of which breached the checks and balances of the state entity.
00:40TV6 News obtained a copy of the forensic audit conducted by CIFAR Consulting, which examined the commercial invoice practices and landfill operations of Wafik Transport Ltd. between July 2024 and May 2025.
00:55According to the forensic audit document, in July 2024, Swimcall's General Manager of Finance, Adoakwesi Hackett, uncovered discrepancies while attempting to validate invoices submitted by Wafik Transport Ltd. under the commercial contract.
01:10She, open quote, discovered that those invoices lacked verification, were unsupported by work logs and reflected inflated hours.
01:18As a result of this discovery, Swimcall ceased all payments to WTL under the commercial contract from July 2024 onwards.
01:27The amount claimed by WTL in respect of the services provided under the commercial contract reached a figure of $5.2 million.
01:34WTL nevertheless continued to perform services despite the non-issuance of payments, close quote.
01:43Acting on a whistleblower allegation made on September 9, 2024, three senior Swimcall officers carried out an unannounced inspection of the Forest Park landfill site the following day.
01:54The officers found that WTL workers had departed the site early, even though invoices had been submitted for a full day's work.
02:02The forensic report said an internal email was sent to all senior Swimcall personnel referring to prior incidents whereby WTL allegedly billed for 36 hours in a 24-hour period under the Gonapo landfill contract
02:16and allegedly charged a three-hour flat rate fee for equipment, movement, regardless of distance, and billed for 45 hours in one day.
02:24On September 12, 2024, Swimcall met with all landfill operators at Forest Park, Beetham, and Gonapo without singling out WTL at that time.
02:34Those contractors were notified that fraudulent billing, including misrepresenting the number of hours worked,
02:39would be referred to the OPR and reminded them of their obligations under the Public Procurement Act.
02:45Seven days later, Swimcall's CEO, D'Souza, held a meeting with Wafiq Khan, WTL's director,
02:51along with Swimcall's procurement officer, about operational and billing concerns surrounding WTL
02:57and the invoices submitted by WTL under their commercial contract.
03:01Khan, according to the document, indicated that the three-hour billing format was applied across the board
03:06and had been sanctioned by previous CEOs and GMs at Swimcall.
03:09However, D'Souza, after investigating this claim, found it could not be substantiated.
03:15At the conclusion of the meeting, Swimcall personal thanked Mr. Khan for acknowledging
03:19there were validity to the allegations and that Swimcall would be taking follow-up action,
03:24of which he would be informed.
03:26Swimcall on October 2, 2024, issued a formal letter to WTL,
03:31highlighting operational concerns about a possible inflation of billable hours
03:34under the 2024-2027 Forest Park Landfill contract.
03:39They reminded WTL that all its employees' contractors are required to use the biometric scanner daily.
03:45On 8 October 2024, WTL responded to Swimcall's letter of October 2, 2025,
03:51through its attorney at law at Fortis Chambers,
03:53denying engagement in any practices or conduct that was not in compliance with the 2024-2027 Forest Park Landfill contract,
04:03claiming that there was no evidence of any complaint or concerns against WTL
04:07and that it had not been informed of any allegations against it.
04:10General Manager of Finance Adoua Kwesi Hackett in February 2025
04:15instructed that the reconciliation of WTL billings under the commercial contract
04:20be done for the period July 2024-February 2025.
04:24On April 25, 2025, Hackett issued a memo to then-Corporate Secretaries Ria Ramdean,
04:30who had been the former CEO before D'Souza's appointment in September 2024.
04:34Hackett, in a findings noted, open quote,
04:36There was consistent over-billing by WTL.
04:39While WTL was billing for daily and overtime rates,
04:42there was no evidence to confirm that the threshold for overtime had been met.
04:46Documentation gaps were noted in the activity sheets,
04:49and there was internal approval without full validation, close quote.
04:53One month later, in May 2025,
04:54the finance team completed their report on the reconciliation and verification of WTL billings.
05:00The report revealed that out of the $3.17 million of WTL billings,
05:05only $61,031.25 could be verified.
05:10Activity sheets required to be submitted were blank
05:12and did not contain a record of WTL's workers' times in and out,
05:16did not contain the required signatures of Swimcall customers,
05:20but were signed off by Swimcall's site supervisors, close quote.
05:24On June 24, 2025, Swimcall issued a formal suspension letter to WTL.
05:29Swimcall suspended all WTL's contracts with immediate effect,
05:32citing Section 58.3 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act,
05:38which allows action against contractors for poor performance,
05:41corrupt or fraudulent practices, or criminal proceedings.
05:45CIFAR's audit made the following findings.
05:47The number of hours claimed by the contractor WTL on many of its invoices
05:51could not be fully reconciled with Swimcall's activity sheets.
05:54Only 28% of the current contractor WTL recorded time in and out entries.
06:0072% of Swimcall's activity sheets,
06:03the number of hours work invoiced by WTL,
06:06could not be verified.
06:08With regard to Swimcall's customers' and supervisors' signatures,
06:11it is of concern, therefore,
06:13that of the activity sheets analyzed,
06:1524% of them did not contain the customer's signature,
06:19and even more worrying,
06:2079% of them did not have Swimcall's supervisor's signature.
06:25Swimcall's commercial contracts require contractors
06:28to complete a daily collections activity record
06:30for each service performed.
06:32From July 2024 to March 2025,
06:35642 of these collection records
06:37were submitted in relation to vacuum tanker services.
06:40However, it is of concern
06:42that on 60 of these records,
06:44the driver and client-customer signatures
06:46appeared to be identical,
06:48as did the signatures of the supervisor
06:49and client-customer on two further records.
06:53Of the utmost concern, according to the auditor,
06:56were the mismatch between Swimcall's billing practices
06:58whereby Swimcall billed its commercial customers
07:01by the size of loads
07:02but paid its contractor WTL
07:04by the number of hours claimed to remove those loads
07:07and, consequently,
07:09those being for three CTU and six CTU bins
07:12vacuum tanker and hook hoist loads services
07:14over the relevant 10-month period
07:16from July 2024 to April 2025
07:19amounted to $4.9 million.
07:21Whereas, in contrast,
07:22over the same period
07:23in relation to the removal of those same three CTU
07:26and six CTU bins,
07:28vacuum tanker and hook hoist loads,
07:30Swimcall was billed by the contractor WTL
07:32for 15,725 hours of work,
07:35which totals $6.6 million.
07:37The auditor also added,
07:40It is immediately evident that Swimcall's billable income
07:43from services to its commercial customers $4.9 million
07:45when reconciled against Swimcall's costs
07:48payable to its contractor WTL $6.6 million
07:52highlights a significant loss of approximately $1.7 million
07:56by Swimcall.
07:57This loss does not include Swimcall's anticipated profits
08:00for these services it provided to commercial customers.
08:03This box explains the auditor's justification
08:06for the above findings.
08:08The auditor in his report said
08:09the above findings would appear to be consistent
08:11with formal concerns raised by Supriani Labor College,
08:14a long-standing client of Swimcall.
08:17Those formal concerns related to them
08:19being billed and voiced by Swimcall for services
08:21which, they assert, were not rendered.
08:24Several questions were sent to acting Swimcall CEO
08:26Rhea Ramdeen about this contractor
08:28who had started operations under a former tenure CEO
08:30before D'Souza assumed their role of CEO
08:33in September 2024, but Ramdeen again
08:35failed to answer any of the questions
08:37directly posted about this contractor
08:39and any perceived relationship
08:41or alleged kickbacks she received.
08:44On Tuesday last, TV6 News reached out
08:46to the managing director of WTL,
08:48Wafi Khan via phone, for comment
08:50about the allegations level in the auditor's report.
08:53Khan told us, open quote,
08:54all allegations are victimization
08:56and I never did anything wrong.
08:58It is wild and malicious.
09:00Khan requested sight of the CIFAR audit
09:02so he could further comment
09:03which was later sent for his perusal.
09:06He later responded, open quote,
09:08the auditor could only audit
09:09what they gave him to audit, close quote.
09:12That was all he added to his response.
09:16Mark Bessant, TV6 News.
09:18Mark Bessant, TV6 News.
09:22Mark Bessant, TV6 News.
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