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For­mer Cepep chair­man Joel Ed­wards has dis­missed claims that the re­new­al of hun­dreds of con­tracts in the weeks lead­ing up to the April 28 Gen­er­al Elec­tion was po­lit­i­cal­ly mo­ti­vat­ed.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Ed­wards, who re­signed fol­low­ing the change of gov­ern­ment, said the process be­gan long be­fore for­mer prime min­is­ter Stu­art Young an­nounced the elec­tion.

“It had noth­ing at all to do with the elec­tions. We did not even know that elec­tions were go­ing to be called when we ini­ti­at­ed this process, be­cause this process was ini­ti­at­ed about three months ago,” Ed­wards said.