A sub-contractor at the Muskrat Falls hydro project says Nalcor would withhold partial payment until their monthly reports were amended to say what they wanted them to say.
Grid Solutions Canada, a part of General Electric, installed the AC/DC switching equipment at Churchill Falls, Muskrat Falls and Soldiers Pond. Company executive Laszlo Von Lazar told lawyer Will Hiscock of the Concerned Citizens Coalition at the inquiry on Friday that they would provide Nalcor with monthly reports but instead of accepting them and providing payment, Nalcor withheld money until the reports were changed.
Lazar says that seemed very strange to him because the purpose of a monthly report is to outline what’s important with the project. He has never been in a situation where they were forced to edit their monthly reports or they wouldn’t get paid.
A manager with the Muskrat Falls project team takes the stand today while officials from Astaldi, the main contractor, will be up later in the week.
Nalcor fired Astaldi from the project last fall.