Caption: Public Administration and Appropriations Committee Chairman Jagdeo Singh. Photo: T&T Parliament
- Ex-health minister Terrance Deyalsingh is accused of instructing NIPDEC to prioritise payments to pharmaceutical company Aventa from 2023 to early 2025.
- The allegation surfaced during a PAAC hearing on the pharmaceutical industry and CDAP supplies.
- NIPDEC GM Vyas Ramphalie said Aventa was paid within 60–90 days, while smaller suppliers waited 180 days or more.
- Under questioning, Ramphalie said payment allocations were dictated by a Ministry of Health team and answered “Yes” when asked if the minister set preferential terms.
- Deyalsingh denied the claim, called it “a lie.”
By Alicia Chamely
FORMER Minister of Health Terrance Deyalsingh is being accused of directing the National Insurance Property Development Company Limited (NIPDEC) to prioritise payments to pharmaceutical company Aventa over smaller suppliers between 2023 and early 2025.
At Monday’s sitting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) on the pharmaceutical industry, committee chairman Jagdeo Singh questioned NIPDEC general manager Vyas Ramphalie about payment times and procedures for pharmaceuticals acquired for the Chronic Disease Assistance Programme (CDAP).
Singh asked Ramphalie about the length of time invoices remained unpaid—from submission to payment—first for Aventa and then for Smith Robertson.
He said, “When Smith Robertson, who (supplies) Aventa, sends their invoices to NIPDEC, what is the longest unpaid period that they have? I’ll tell you, this is the anecdotal evidence that I have—information that I have—and I want to know.”
Ramphalie said the period between invoice and payment for Aventa was between 60 and 90 days.
Singh responded, “So one large pharmaceutical purveyor is paid within 60 to 90 days, but the smaller pharmacies are left to languish over 180 days, sometimes longer. Is my anecdotal evidence correct or incorrect?”
Ramphalie said Singh was correct.
Singh then pressed Ramphalie on where the payment instructions came from.
Ramphalie said, “The Ministry of Health would provide payments based on those outstanding invoices to us. However, there was a period in 2023—I’m not sure exactly, I think March or April—when partial payments were made to various suppliers that were identified as being critical.”
Singh pressed further: “Isn’t it correct, Mr Ramphalie, that you were instructed to give Aventa preferential payment over and above everybody else? Isn’t it correct?”
Ramphalie did not directly answer, but said a team from the Ministry of Health dictated the allocations of payments from 2023 to early 2025.
Dissatisfied with the response, Singh asked, “Who from the Ministry of Health was the minister then?”
Ramphalie replied, “Yes.”
Singh continued, “And the minister dictated the preferential terms of payment? The answer is yes or no.”
“Yes,” Ramphalie replied.
Committee member Senator David Nahkid then asked Ramphalie to clarify: “For the education of the public, who was the Minister of Health?”
Ramphalie responded, “Minister of Health, Mr Terrence Deyalsingh.”
After Ramphalie’s answer—which Singh called “alarming”—the meeting was paused, and Singh said he would write to Deyalsingh to have him appear before the committee to explain.
Deyalsingh: ‘That’s a lie’
Contacted by AZP News, Deyalsingh vehemently denied Ramphalie’s statement.
Asked whether he directed NIPDEC to give preferential payment to Aventa, he said, “Absolutely not. That’s a lie.”
Saying he had not heard the broadcast of the committee meeting, Deyalsingh added, “I will get the recording and pass it to my lawyer for action.”
Asked whether he would appear before the committee, he said, “I will speak to my lawyers about this witch hunt and be so advised.”
