A “misunderstanding” at the heart of disputes over the Government’s plans for a new airport terminal was discussed at length before yesterday’s Commission of Inquiry.

Anthony Manders, the Financial Secretary, told the commission he had never been in outright disagreement with Curtis Stovell, the Accountant-General, about how the deal with Canadian Commercial Corporation worked when it came to the selection of a contractor for the project.

Earlier, the commission heard that Mr Stovell had been under the impression that CCC’s sole source deal for Aecon to build the new terminal would have had to come across the Accountant-General’s desk for approval before it could be signed off.

However, Mr Manders, covering similar ground to that heard in Public Accounts Committee meeting, insisted that Mr Stovell had been asked simply to waive a “government-to-government approach” — the public-private partnership that he said was not even covered under governmental financial instructions.

The ministry had been satisfied with that waiver, allowing CCC to proceed.

“It would not have been because we were hiding it from him,” Mr Manders told commission chairman Sir Anthony Evans, who asked repeatedly why Mr Stovell had not been informed of Aecon’s involvement.

Earlier, Mr Stovell had told the commission that his memos to the Ministry of Finance were shared in draft form before being sent — leading members of the commission to query how the misunderstanding had come about in the first place.

Sir Anthony asked: “How did it come about that he was invited to approve the transaction, and was not told a word about Aecon?”

“I can’t speak to that,” Mr Manders replied.

He said the ministry was satisfied that the arrangement was secure with the Canadian Government’s backing, adding that there was nothing unusual in companies pitching possible projects to CCC — which retained the ultimate right to take on the contractor of its choice.

“It didn’t cross my mind to say who was being selected,” he said, describing CCC’s selection as “really up to them”.

The commission heard that the Government, at present, had no guidelines for P3 agreements, leading commission member and executive Kumi Bradshaw to suggest to Mr Manders that the group give recommendations for protocol.

“That would be a great idea,” Mr Manders replied.

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