{"id":267354,"date":"2026-02-17T09:05:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T13:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=267354"},"modified":"2026-02-17T09:05:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T13:05:05","slug":"finance-ministry-recovers-funds-closes-probe-into-ec15m-vehicle-procurement-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/finance-ministry-recovers-funds-closes-probe-into-ec15m-vehicle-procurement-breach\/","title":{"rendered":"Finance Ministry Recovers Funds, Closes Probe Into EC$15M Vehicle Procurement Breach"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An investigation into the purchase of government vehicles outside established procurement and tax rules has ended, with the Ministry of Finance recovering funds and declaring the matter closed.<\/p>

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Director General of Communications Maurice Merchant said the review covered hundreds of vehicles valued at more than EC$15 million. He said discussions with several dealerships led to agreements and repayments to correct what were described as procedural failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Financial Secretary and the Ministry of Finance have reached agreements with several concerned dealerships. Through these arrangements, funds were recouped from the dealers involved, and the Ministry now deems the matter settled,\u201d Merchant said.<\/p>

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Opposition figures have argued that repayment alone does not resolve concerns about how the purchases were approved or whether safeguards failed, calling for a fuller public accounting. Merchant said the Finance Ministry considers the financial issues addressed.<\/p>

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An investigation into the purchase of government vehicles outside established procurement and tax rules has ended, with the Ministry of Finance recovering funds and declaring the matter closed. Director General of Communications Maurice Merchant said the review covered hundreds of vehicles valued at more than EC$15 million. He said discussions with several dealerships led to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":252530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFinance Ministry Recovers Funds, Closes Probe Into EC$15M Vehicle Procurement Breach - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/finance-ministry-recovers-funds-closes-probe-into-ec15m-vehicle-procurement-breach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finance Ministry Recovers Funds, Closes Probe Into EC$15M Vehicle Procurement Breach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An investigation into the purchase of government vehicles outside established procurement and tax rules has ended, with the Ministry of Finance recovering funds and declaring the matter closed. 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