The PUP government got off to a witch-hunting session on Monday, February 15 with the grand excuse that in the last year leading into the General Elections, there was a fire sale of government assets, in particular vehicles. Now in its fourth week, it turns out that the fire sale is really much-a-do about nothing. The entire witch hunt has whittled down to the sale of a Toyota Tacoma to a former government minister and in the end it was not actually sold to that minister.
In Wednesday’s testimony by Juvencio Herrera, he simplified the entire transaction so that any fool could have understood it except the chairman of the inquiry. Herrera told the commission that he knew Hon. Hugo Patt by virtue of him being a contractor, who did work at an apartment building where Hon. Patt was staying. He said that in casual conversation, Hon. Patt told him that he was desirous of buying a government issued Toyota Tacoma, which he was driving but did not have the finances to do so. Herrera would then offer Patt to see if he could help and did so by getting an interest free loan from Kelvin Lee for $65,000. The vehicle was purchased but by that time, Hon. Patt told him that he was unable to get the vehicle as he had run into some financial problems.
That caused Herrera to become interested only in recovering the $65,000 dollars, which he had borrowed by selling the vehicle. He said he asked a Ministry of Lands employee, Ivan Leiva to sell the vehicle and was only interested in recovering the money which he paid for it. That was done and Leiva delivered to Herrera the money which he returned to Lee.
After much badgering, insisting that Herrera had actually given Hon. Patt a loan, Herrera maintained his ground stating that there was never any loan in the first place as Patt never received the vehicle and he, Herrera was the only one, who had possession of it.
