"Closer to $100 Million": Senator Jonathan Wehner says Government's Own Budget Estimates Expose Nine Years of Unauthorized Vehicle Spending

Opposition Senator Jonathan Wehner is alleging that the true scale of unauthorized vehicle spending in the Ministry of Works dwarfs the $15 million figure at the centre of the "Vehicle-Gate" scandal — insisting that the government's own budget documents point to nearly a decade of illegal expenditure approaching $100 million.

"I'm here this afternoon to further raise the alarm, because I want to tell you it's not just tens of millions of dollars. I'm going to tell you it's closer to $100 million," the United Progressive Party (UPP) senator declared during an appearance on Observer Radio's Connecting with Dave Lester Payne on Tuesday, guest-hosted by Algernon "Serpent" Watts.

Senator Wehner said his figures were drawn not from opposition speculation but from the national Recurrent and Development Estimates laid before Parliament each year. "I have gone through the budget estimates. These figures are from the national budget… from 2016 to 2024," he explained, adding that he isolated three separate line items — the purchase of vehicles (budget code 40101), the rental or lease of vehicles, and the purchase of heavy vehicular equipment — "to remove any gray area," so that officials could not claim the totals were inflated by fire engines, ambulances or road equipment.

A Pattern Beginning in 2016

Starting with 2016, Senator Wehner told listeners that Parliament approved $2.5 million for the purchase of vehicles, but the Ministry of Works ended the year having spent $5,227,375. "$5.2 million was actually spent, which means that the Ministry of Works in 2016 alone spent $2,727,375 over the budgeted amount, which was passed in Parliament after debate," he said — an overrun of more than 109 percent.

The pattern, he argued, repeated year after year. In the 2018 election year, $2 million was budgeted but $4,884,470 was spent. In 2019, the overspend widened dramatically: "One million was budgeted for the purchase of vehicles. However, they spent $8,588,174. That means they spent $7.6 million over the budget without authorization."

Vehicle Spending Surged During COVID Lockdowns

Senator Wehner raised particular alarm for the pandemic years, when the majority of public servants were confined to their homes and government vehicles sat idle. In 2020, he said, $1 million was budgeted for vehicle purchases while $10,587,405 was actually spent — "that is $9.6 million over the budgeted amount."

"You're telling me that this Minister of Finance presided over a situation in 2020 where we were in lockdown and allowed people within his ministry and the Ministry of Works to spend $9,587,000 without authorization to buy vehicles?" he asked.

The following year was no better. Against a budget of $1.5 million, actual spending on vehicle purchases in 2021 reached $10,493,129 — a figure Senator Wehner calculated at "599.5 percent over budget." He challenged listeners to imagine the private-sector equivalent: an accountant who authorized spending even twenty percent over budget, he suggested, would not keep his job — yet the nation's "self-described financial genius" had presided over expenditure many times larger above the budgeted allocation.

$16 Million Vehicle Rental Bill on the Eve of a Tightly Contested Election

Turning to 2022 — the year of intense campaigning ahead of the closely fought January 2023 general election — Senator Wehner read from the budget estimates which budgeted vehicle purchases for that year at $1.5 million. Alarmingly, the actual expenditure for vehicle purchases ballooned to $7,846,880 which is 423 percent over the budget. As shocking as that revelation was it was the vehicle rental line that stunned the studio.

"The government in 2022 budgeted $1 million for the rental of vehicles. They spent in 2022 $16,390,645. That is 1,539 percent over the budget," he said, noting pointedly that election campaigns are seasons of motorcades, whistle-stops and loudspeaker vehicles. In 2023, he added, vehicle purchases ran $4.9 million over budget and rentals a further $1.8 million over.

2024: $5 Million "Nobody Can Account For"

Senator Wehner described 2024 as the most alarming year of all. Parliament budgeted $5 million for vehicle purchases, and special warrants — the legal mechanism for authorizing additional spending — added another $5 million, for a total authorized ceiling of $10 million. The actual expenditure was $15,459,715. The senator then explained the significance of this revelation.

"You spent $5.6 million over any kind of authorization. So, for one year, there is $5 million of our taxpayer money that nobody can account for. Not through special warrants, not through the Treasury, not through the Ministry of Finance, not through Parliament," he charged.

He also drew a connection between that year's figures and the Prime Minister's public disclosure of the scandal. "October is the month where the budgets are being prepared. So for the Prime Minister to come out in October of 2025 to raise alarm about something that was happening in 2024 — and he's calling a $15 million figure, and it just so happens that $15 million was the over-expenditure in 2024 — I'm wondering if he was looking at that year in particular," Senator Wehner said. "If that is the case, he is seriously underestimating or deliberately ignoring eight other years, which represent tens of millions of dollars of expenditure without authorization."

"Your Projections Mean Nothing"

The senator anchored his case in Sections 91 to 93 of the Constitution and the Finance Administration Act of 2006, which require parliamentary approval for spending from the Consolidated Fund. "You can't spend money from the Consolidated Fund without the approval of Parliament," he said. "So even if you have a budgeted amount, you can't be going and spending fifteen million without Parliament's approval — and there was none."

He argued the chronic overruns also demolish the government's repeated boasts of fiscal surpluses. "Your projections mean nothing if the actuals are telling you you're in deficit and debt," Senator Wehner said, observing that the finance minister routinely announces surpluses in budget debates and then "right after the debate, he brings a bill to borrow money."

Senator Wehner ridiculed Prime Minister Gaston Browne's account of discovering the scandal only when his wife, Minister of Works Maria Bird-Browne, spotted a Bronco parked at the Langfords Police Station. "If that's how the Minister of Finance found out about this, he should resign immediately," he said. He acknowledged on air that Minister Maria Bird-Browne only assumed the Works portfolio in 2023 — meaning the earlier years fall to her predecessors — but maintained that the ministry's political head remains "within the circle of liability, because you should be aware of what your ministry is spending." The Director of Audit's annual reports, he added, consistently flag the same ministry: "There is a certain ministry that seems to be the problem child" — public works.

Calls for Prosecution — and a Contrast with the Bus Case

Senator Wehner contrasted the state's inaction with its years-long prosecution of former UPP ministers. "They tried to get Brother Harold Lovell, Brother Wilmot Daniel and Dr. Jacqui Quinn thrown in jail for three old buses used for community service… Where is that same vigour and desire for quote-unquote justice as it relates to the situation here?" he asked, insisting that "some people ought to be in jail" and that the Public Accounts Committee must now pursue answers, even if government members continue to frustrate its quorum.

"If I achieve nothing else in my time in public service, it has to be that the people know what is going on," he said.

A Scandal the Government Now Calls Settled

Senator Wehner's intervention lands months after Prime Minister Browne, responding to opposition questioning in Parliament, acknowledged procedural breaches and instances of abuse in the acquisition of government vehicles without Cabinet approval — a controversy linked at the time to senatorial portfolio changes and the resignation of Comptroller of Customs Raju Boddu. PM Browne subsequently used his weekly radio programme to insist that his wife never authorized any of the vehicle purchases under investigation.

In October 2025, the Prime Minister announced that Harney Motors had agreed to repay $10 million under a restitution agreement, with further recoveries expected from another unnamed dealer under audit. By February of this year, Director General of Communications Maurice Merchant declared the matter closed, telling reporters that the Ministry of Finance had reached agreements with the dealerships involved, that administrative and procedural "errors" had been corrected through repayments, and that the ministry now deems the matter settled — a characterization the opposition has rejected in the absence of a detailed public report.