by TREVOR YEARWOOD

AN INDEPENDENT PROBE of Hardwood Housing Factory Inc. (HHFI) should also cover what role, if any, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Clyde Mascoll, has played in the business.

Opposition Leader David Thompson indicated this in a letter which he has written to Prime Minister Owen Arthur, calling for an investigation into the company's financial dealings.

The letter was delivered to the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.

But chairman of the company, Anthony Hoyos, told the SUNDAY SUN that Mascoll had no professional connections to HHFI, and had simply acted to facilitate the company with regard to Government's housing mission.

He also said the company had no problem with the investigation Thompson wanted and that he was "not worried in the least".

In the three-page letter, copies of which he gave to the media yesterday, Thompson claimed that Mascoll played an active part "in many of the decisions made to facilitate the work of this company and in its day-to-day operations".

Thompson also said during a Press conference at his legal office in Aquatic Gap, St Michael, he was concerned that the company could get such favourable treatment from Government without "a track record" and without going through the tendering process for state projects.

Earmarked

The company was earmarked for building pavilions and "significant areas" of land for low-income housing projects, according to Thompson.

Charges raised by the Opposition Leader and Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee included paying non-national workers more than Barbadians; breaches of "several labour standards"; a cashflow problem; and bounced cheques totalling $30 000.

Hoyos admitted that HHFI had a cash flow problem, but disclosed that the company had been able to meet all its debt commitments.

He said nearly all of the company's 27 employees were Barbadians and there was no pay discrimination.

As for the charge of not tendering for Government projects, he stated that the company did not set the rules, but had to negotiate prices with Government.

On the issue of access to substantial portions of Government land for low-income housing projects, Hoyos said: "That is not the case. No land has been given to us."

Thompson called HHI a private company, but Hoyos said the Government had majority interest in the business set up by Anthony Murrell through an investment by the Enterprise Growth Fund.