The story so far
THE torrent of revelations in recent weeks over the NI Water affair has baffled all but the most dedicated observers.
Yet the revelations go to the heart of the complicated nature of how government and publicly-linked bodies are run.
In essence, the story is about who was to blame for problems in procurement – deciding on who receives lucrative contracts – at NI Water.
Contracts totalling 28m were given out without being advertised. It is not yet clear whether tendering would have saved public money and there is no suggestion of corruption.
Three consultants – described as the Independent Review Team – looked into the tendering for Conor Murphy.
The issue then became whether it was fair to blame and sack certain people over the tendering shortcomings.
The review team's report did not say who was to blame but the findings were interpreted by Mr Murphy's most senior official, Paul Priestly, as reason to blame all but one of NI Water's non-executive directors.
For reasons which have never fully been explained, one of the non-executive directors – Don Price – was spared when the Sinn Fein minister sacked his colleagues in March.
At the time Mr Murphy was hailed as a decisive minister who acts when he uncovers bad practice in a public body.
But leaked e-mails and documents revealed in a UTV programme a fortnight ago show that the review team's initial report appeared to blame the parent department – regional development – for NI Water's failings.
Mr Priestly re-drafted sections of the report and some of his exact wording was used in the final document.
Further questions arose over the relationship between one of the consultants – Phoenix Gas chief executive Peter Dixon – and NI Water boss Laurence MacKenzie, who Mr Murphy has consistently backed.
In the words of MLA John Dallat at a mammoth hearing of Stormont's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in July, MacKenzie and Dixon were "chums"; in the words of Mr MacKenzie they were "business associates".
Mr Dixon wrote a furious letter to the committee attacking three MLAs for a "disgraceful line of questioning".
But it has emerged that Mr Priestly suggested and drafted that letter for Mr Dixon, for which he has become the first permanent secretary in the Northern Ireland Civil Service to be suspended pending the probe.
But Mr Murphy has defended his decision to sack the directors and replace them with his own appointments, who include a former Sinn Fein councillor.
The PAC report on the saga is due out in the autumn, although with every week its volume of evidence swells.
One of the key questions facing it is: if the non-executive board members were not to blame for NI Water's procurement failings, who was?
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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