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UML wrote:Government wins Smelter arbitration!!!K74T wrote:
Unlimited
Nationwide
Corruption$644m SECRET
Rowley reveals Govt facing multi-million claim in US for smelter cancellation; AG says matter subjudice
By Ria Taitt Political Editor
Story Created: Jan 27, 2014 at 9:58 PM ECT
Story Updated: Jan 28, 2014 at 8:02 PM ECT
THE Government is currently facing a US$100 million claim in the United States from the minority shareholder of the US$400 million Alutrint smelter plant—Venezuelan company Sural—as a consequence of the People’s Partnership administration’s decision to cancel the smelter plant, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday.
He was speaking at a news conference at his Charles Street, Port of Spain, office.
Rowley said the Government, which was heavily contracted on this smelter plant, cancelled the contract “with great fanfare, but failed to tell the population what the consequences of the cancellation of the plant were”.
Alutrint was a project in which the Government was majority shareholder and Sural, a Venezuelan company, was the minority shareholder, Rowley said.
He said the minority shareholder had always maintained its interest was prejudiced by the Government’s action.
“This office has been advised that the minority shareholder in the Alutrint plant ... is currently exercising its right under the contract to arbitration wherein it is making substantial claims against the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for its arbitrary cancellation of that contract. My information is that this arbitration is taking place in the United States and that the claims being made are well upwards of US$100 million, being prosecuted by high-quality lawyers of the minority shareholder.
“Quietly and secretly, the Attorney General, or whoever is acting for the Government, has picked up two or three lawyers ... and has sent them to represent our interest in the US. We as taxpayers, who will ultimately be facing the outcome of this arbitration, need to know urgently from the Government what is happening, where we are with respect to this minority shareholder who is making these claims against the Government,” Rowley said.
He said the Government was “very happy” to tell the population about a claim which had been made against the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) for a hotel project in Tobago, making the matter an election issue.
However, he said the same Government was now “silent as a grave against this US$100 million claim in a foreign court”.
“We are asking Government to tell the taxpayers what is happening with Alutrint, what liabilities we are exposed to, what are the claims being made against us, who is representing us and where the arbitration is at this point in time,” Rowley said.
He said he also wanted to ask Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar whether her visit to China will deal with the treatment of this country’s liabilities to the Chinese government for the loan on the smelter plant, a loan which had been put in force.
This country borrowed US$400 million from the Exim Bank of China for the La Brea smelter plant.
Rowley said the country was entitled to know whether claims are now being made or settlements being discussed and what are the terms and conditions of these settlements with respect to the Chinese loan.
“It is intolerable that we should sit here and allow the Government to handle these matters in secret ... opening the door for corrupt practice or prejudice our interest by taking action which we would not permit,” he said.
Rowley said on Friday the Minister of Public Utilities, in response to a question about the electrical power plant at Union Estate which was governed by a take-or-pay contract, revealed that Government was paying $43 million a month for power the country didn’t need.
“That is a direct consequence of the cancellation of the (smelter) project. So not only did we not get the outcome of the benefits of selling aluminium products, we are now having to pay that kind of money for something that we were contracted to take, but don’t need at this time—$43 million a month we have to pay as a result of a political decision. And the Government is silent about this.
“We cancelled the smelter and are now paying a cheque of umpteen millions a month and have hundreds of millions in liability because we dealt with it ... in a particular way that placed us in a position to lose, rather than to gain,” Rowley said.
Noting that there were environmental concerns about the smelter plant, Rowley said he would be going to Bahrain and Dubai next month. He said one of the things he would do is look at the smelter plants there and see what benefits were obtained by those countries.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/644 ... 13521.html
UML wrote:Couva West Secondary School was built under the PNM and has been plagued with problems from its inception. The pnm took away the children's field and built a school next to the same school. John Rahael was the contractor. No documentation for abandonment or destruction for the school next door has ever been found.
UML wrote:UML wrote:Couva West Secondary School was built under the PNM and has been plagued with problems from its inception. The pnm took away the children's field and built a school next to the same school. John Rahael was the contractor. No documentation for abandonment or destruction for the school next door has ever been found.
Couva West Secondary School took 7 years to build at a cost of $180,000,000.00
I doh think the Debe UWI will cost that much
Dizzy28 wrote:UML wrote:UML wrote:Couva West Secondary School was built under the PNM and has been plagued with problems from its inception. The pnm took away the children's field and built a school next to the same school. John Rahael was the contractor. No documentation for abandonment or destruction for the school next door has ever been found.
Couva West Secondary School took 7 years to build at a cost of $180,000,000.00
I doh think the Debe UWI will cost that much
UWI Debe campus was estimated to cost $499m and an expected completion of Dec 2014.[https://sta.uwi.edu/cpo/UWISouthCampus-PenalDebe.asp]
Expected expenditure up to Dec 2014 is $509.4m and the campus is not yet complete.[http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2013-03-10/govt-spend-438m-2013-construct-uwi-south-campus]
Korean firm fired
By INVERA ARJOON Wednesday, March 24 2010
The Education Facilities Company Limited has fired Korean contractors Haji Engineering and Construction Limited after it built only two out of 50 Early Childhood Care Education centres (ECCE) as part of a $150 million project.
Newsday sources said the decision to terminate the multi-million dollar contract was made based on Haji Engineering’s under-performance, as well as controversy surrounding money the Korean firm owed to local sub-contractors.
At a media briefing on March 2, 2009, EFCL’s chairman Moonilal Lalchan announced that Haji Engineering had won the contract to build the 50 ECCE centres at a cost of $150 million or $3.3 million per school.
Just one year later, on February 26, EFCL served Haji Engineering with a termination letter after it built only two ECCEs-one in Maloney Gardens, Maloney, the other in Roystonia, Couva
Nine of the centres are close to completion, 33 are at different stages of construction and work has not started on six, sources revealed.
Newsday learnt that there are no plans to re-tender the contract, but instead the remaining centres would be given to other EFCL contractors or sub-contractors, who have been working on the project, to complete.
Sources said the ECCE contract was terminated at the break-even point where no money was owed to Haji Engineering by EFCL, which is State-owned special purpose company, similar to Udecott. Since the termination letter was served, no one from Haji Engineering has attempted to contact the EFCL, sources added.
During a visit to Haji Engineering’s office at 4 Gaston Street in Chaguanas, on Monday, staff told Newsday they had begun to vacate the office one week ago. Sources said the company has fallen behind on payments to the landlord. They also said Haji Engineering was hired by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to build the La Lune Desalination Plant at Moruga, which still has outstanding work although it is scheduled for handover later this year in September.
President of the Trinidad and Tobago Contractors Association Mickey Joseph said he was aware Haji Engineering had been fired from the ECCE project and noted its bid was under-priced. “The $3 million Haji was paid for each ECCE centre would have never been enough to complete them since there are other infrastructural works which accompany the building itself,” he said.
Joseph disagrees with the decision to not re-tender the contract.
“In all fairness, the tenders should be re-invited in packages of three, five and ten rather than 30 to 50, based on ability and resources,” he said.
Joseph believes, according to the rules of the Central Tenders Board, the right and legal process would be for the EFCL to re-tender the jobs.
However, Central Tenders Board officials said EFCL is not bound by its rules.
“Their regulations may allow for the second qualifying bidder to be awarded the contract. It could be done in a number of different ways.”
Neither Education Minister Esther Le Gendre, who opened the Maloney ECCE in January, nor EFCL corporate communications manager Sherry Mc Millan could not be reached for comment.
During the Uff Commission of Inquiry, Minister of Works and Transport Colm Imbert boasted that Haji Engineering was one of the foreign contractors, whose bids for Government projects were considerably lower than those of local companies.
Taking the stand on March 23, 2009, Imbert branded local contractors as “profiteers” and accused the construction industry of collusion, overpricing and inefficiency as he defended the Government’s preference for foreign contractors, on its mega-projects.
“The ECCE buildings have not changed but the price has moved from $2 million to $4 million and $6 million. Overall Haji was able to bid $150 million for building the 50 centres while the nearest local bidder, Broadway Properties Limited, came in at double that amount at $300 million.” http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,117840.html
UML, why is your answer to blatant corrupt practices within the PPG always "well the PNM did so and so. . . "?Ex-ministers among 6 charged with corruption
6 charged
From left to right:
Millionaire and UNC financier: ISHWAR GALBARANSINGH...8 charges, $3m bail
Fmr Finance Minister: BRIAN KUEI TUNG...10 charges, $1.6m bail
Brian Kuei Tung's fiancee: RENEE PIERRE...3 charges, $1m bail,
Fmr National Security Minister: RUSSELL HUGGINS...7 charges, $1.6m bail
Secretary Northern Construction: AMRITH MAHARAJ...8 charges, $1.6m bail
CEO Maritime Group of Companies: JOHN SMITH...7 charges, $2m bail
March 24, 2001
Reproduced by consent of Newsday.
By Ken Chee Hing
This country's most sensational corruption investigation climaxed yesterday when six top public officials, including a millionaire businessman and two former government ministers were slapped with 45 fraud charges, arising out of a probe into the awarding of contracts in the construction of the $1.6 billion Piarco International Airport.
Former Finance Minister Brian Kuei Tung; his companion Renee Pierre; former National Security Minister Russell Orlando Huggins; millionaire businessman and UNC financier Ishwar Galbaransingh and Chief Corporate Secretary of Northern Construction Limited Amrith Maharaj, surrendered with their attorneys to officers of the elite Anti Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB), housed in the Caribbean Court of Justice building on Richmond Street.
The sixth person - John Henry Smith, CEO of Maritime Group of Companies - was arrested by ACIB officers yesterday around 10.30 am at his Haleland Park, Maraval home.
They appeared before Justice of the Peace Ackbar Khan and were granted bail in the sum of $10.6 million to cover the 45 criminal charges. They will appear before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate on Monday.
The two-year long investigation was spearheaded by head of ACIB, Supt Maurice Piggott with assistance from Canadian Forensic Accountants Bob Lindquist and Hans Marschdorf.
Charges in the Piarco Airport probe have been expected for the last several weeks and on Friday night, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mark Mohammed SC, having received from the ACIB the results of the probe, directed that charges be laid.
The drama on Richmond Street which lasted the entire day, began at approximately 10 am when ACIB officers brought in Smith. Minutes later Huggins surrendered with his lawyer Vernon De Lima. He was followed by Galbaransingh, Maharaj, Kuei Tung and Pierre.
The surrender was witnessed by a huge assembly of reporters and photographers, who gathered on Richmond Street next door to the Sacred Heart Boys School and Church.
The media waited for hours in the hot sun as the six persons were formally charged and granted bail.
As Kuei Tung was entering the building accompanied by his girlfriend Renee Pierre he muttered to the media, "is politics, is politics...this is political victimisation." Yesterday was Kuei Tung's 56th birthday.
The media was also informed that Smith recently underwent heart surgery and was fitted with a pacemaker.
Galbaransingh was granted $3M; Kuei Tung was granted $1.6M bail; Huggins got $1.6M bail; Smith got $2M bail; Pierre received $800,000 bail and Maharaj was granted $1.6M bail.
Kuei Tung, Pierre, Galbaransingh, Maharaj and Smith were jointly charged with conspiracy to defraud the Trinidad and Tobago Government of $7 million.
Galbaransingh was slapped with eight; Huggins got seven; Smith got eight; Kuei Tung, got ten; Pierre got four and Maharaj eight.
The 45 charges were laid for offences allegedly committed between the period 1996 to 2000. Charges ranged from misbehaviour in public office to corruption and money laundering. The ACIB was formalised on January 28, 2002.
On Friday, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mark Mohammed SC, after holding a week of discussions with the ACIB, Lindquist and a team of specially selected attorneys from the DPP office, directed that 45 criminal charges be laid against the six persons and two companies, namely Northern Construction Ltd (owned by Galbaransingh) and Fidelity Finance and Leasing Company, a subsidiary of Maritime Group of Companies.
The ACIB was set up by former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj while in office and launched the investigations into the Piarco development project following serious allegations of corruption made in the House of Representatives by the then PNM Opposition.
Maharaj hired the services of Canadian Forensic Accountants Bob Lindquist, who in his interim report declared that the Piarco development was a fruad on the people of Trinidad and Tobago, and a clear abuse of public funds.
The interim report said its findings were consistent with a conspiracy to corrupt the contract selection process beginning in 1996 and carried out until 2000.
"It was a very complex investigation that required countless hours of work. I am very proud of my officers and would like to publicly state, that if it wasn't for their efforts, the investigations would have been harder to complete and would have taken longer," stated a tired-looking Supt Maurice Piggott, as he spoke to the media yesterday.
Piggott also said the investigations were not yet closed. "No, no the investigation were not yet over," he said.
Galbaransingh and Maharaj were represented by a battery of lawyers including UNC MP for Point-a-Pierre Gillian Lucky, Desmond Allum SC and Sophia Chote.
Huggins and Smith were represented by Vernon De Lima and David Patrick, while Kuei Tung and Pierre were represented by attorney Joseph Pantor.
THE CHARGES
BRIAN KUEI TUNG, fmr Finance Minister - (4 counts) misbehaviour in public office; (5 counts) corruption; (1 count) conspiracy to defraud the TT Govt of $7M - Total charges: 10
Granted $1.6M bail
RUSSEL ORLANDO HUGGINS, fmr National Security Minister - (2 counts) corruption; (3 counts) aiding and abetting to commit misbehaviour in public office; (1 count) misbehaviour in public office; (1 count) money laundering - Total charges: 7
Granted $1.6M bail
ISHWAR GALBARANSINGH, millionaire businessman and UNC financier - (1 count) money laundering; (2 counts) corruption; (4 counts) aiding and abetting to commit misbehaviour in public office; (1 count) conspiracy to defraud TT Govt of $7M - Total charges: 8
Granted $3M bail
JOHN HENRY SMITH, CEO Maritime Group of Companies - (3 counts) aiding and abetting to commit misbehaviour in public office; (2 counts) corruption; (1 count) conspiracy to defraud TT Govt of $7M; (1 count) misbehaviour in public office; (1 count) money laundering - Total charges: 8 Granted $2M bail
RENEE PIERRE, companion of Brian Kuei Tung - (1 count) aiding and abetting to commit misbehaviour in public office; (1 count) conspiracy to defraud TT Government of $7M; (2 counts) corruption - Total charges: 4
Granted $800,000 bail
AMRITH MAHARAJ, Chief Corporate Secretary Northern Construction
- (4 counts) aiding and abetting Brian Kuei Tung to commit misbehaviour in public office; (1 count) money laundering; (2 counts) corruption;
(1 count) conspiracy to defraud TT Govt of $7M - Total charges: 8
Granted $1.6M bail
LINDQUIST REPORT: $496M to one company
December 05, 2001
Reproduced by consent of Newsday.
A local company, Fidelity Finance and Leasing Company Limited, was paid $496 million by the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT) for "construction work" done to the controversial terminal building at Piarco International Airport.
This represented 57 percent of the financing of the project up to September 30, 2000. Fidelity is a member of the Maritime Finance Group.
Calmaquip Engineering Inc was paid $183 million, Northern Construction $29 million, and all other contractors, $161 million. A total of $869 million was paid out by the end of September 30, 2000. The final cost of the project has been put at $1.4 billion.
This information is contained in a 43-page report dated December 7, 2000, by Canadian forensic investigator Robert Lindquist, who was hired by the Government in 2000 to investigate allegations of corruption in the award of the airport contracts.
According to Lindquist, Fidelity was first known to be involved in September 1998 after Northern Construction, owned by Ishwar Galbaransingh, received the contract for Package 3 (Building, Foundation and Structure).
On September 30, 1998, Northern Construction, as the lead member of the NYC Consortium, assigned to Fidelity "absolutely all sums that are or to become payable to the said Northern Construction Limited" in an agreement signed by John Henry Smith, a Director of Fidelity, and Ishwar Galbaransingh of Northern.
According to the report, Northern later signed a similar document for each contract it was awarded on the airport project. All funds due to Northern Construction were paid directly to Fidelity.
Lindquist found that "While the agreement indicates a banking relationship, the phrase "absolutely all sums" suggests a relationship beyond the normal course in third party relationships"
The Canadian investigator pointed out that all proceeds from the contracts awarded to Northern Construction (Packages 3, 5, 8, and 9) were assigned to Fidelity. "We don't know the disposition of these funds," the internationally-known investigator added.
Package 5 (Airside Paving); Package 8 -Site Utilities; and Package 9 - Building Enclosure and Interior Construction).
Lindquist pointed out that the only funds received from the Airports Authority by Northern Construction occurred on July 24, 2000 in the amount of $29 million. This amount represented the settlement of Northern's claim arising from the suspension of the NYC Consortium contract on Package 6 in March 1997. (This was after the project was stopped following an inquiry by Justice Lennox Deyalsingh in 1997).
Cabinet, according to Minute 758, dated April 26, 2000, approved the payment of Northern's claim. On July 27, 2000, a cheque in the amount of $28,898,720.65 was sent to Ish Galbaransingh, chairman of Northern Construction.
Calmaquip was awarded the contract for Package 13 in the amount of $183 million, which was 100 percent over the budget.
The other contractors received the following:
Thomas Peake and Company - 4 percent - $34M
Jusamco Pavers Limited - 4 percent - $34M
Seereram Brothers Limited - 4 percent - $34M
Electrical Trading Company Limited - 3 percent - $25M.
Engineering Services Consortium - 2 percent - $17M
Damus Roofing Systems Limited - 2 percent - $17M
Lindquist was mandated by the then Minister of National Security Joseph Theodore and former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj in September 2000 to assist the newly-inaugurated Anti-Corruption Unit of the Fraud Squad.
The specific targets were to examine the circumstances surrounding contractual arrangements made by certain Government/State entities in various areas.
During the course of the investigation into the airport project, Lindquist interviewed numerous witnesses and examined many documents. He received the relevant contracts as well as the process that was used to enter into these contracts.
The team spoke to a number of contractors and individuals who participated in the bidding process. He stated in his report that "while some of the individuals including employees of the Government agencies were less than cooperative, many provided valuable details and insight to some of the apparent irregularities."
Lindquist continued, "From all the information that we received from individuals to this point in time, and from all the documents that we have received, we believe that a group of individuals and corporations conspired together to control the award of contracts on this airport project."
He concluded that the award of the contracts was a fraud on the people of Trinidad and Tobago and an abuse of public funds.
The Lindquist Report on the Piarco Airport - Pt 2
The bid process that resulted in an award of a contract worth $183 million to a company named Calmaquip for the supply of specialty equipment for Piarco Airport development project was described as "flawed" by the Robert Lindquist investigations, the interim report of which is in the hands of the Government.
Lindquist recommended further investigation of the matter and raised questions about a deposit account held by the Airports Authority of TT in the Cayman Islands.
The $183 million, the report said was almost 100 percent higher than the budget.
The report further stated that the procurement plan for CP-13 which was awarded to Calmaquip, dated September 1999, stated that the "successful proponent will be responsible for the procurement, manufacturing and installation of the equipment, and will finance the equipment.
Although the financial proposal of Calmaquip was scored 20 out of 20 by the Ministry of Finance, the CP-13 was financed not by Calmaquip, but instead by the Dresdner Bank Lateinamerika AG, Miami whose client is the Airports Authority of TT.
Their loan was backed by guarantees from both the EXIM Bank and the Republic of TT. The report quoted a Cabinet note of January 24, 2000, which stated that "the original cost of the project was TT$740,878,700 while the total final cost was estimated at TT$919,664,130 which sum includes all proposed construction, the accelerated programme, all Birk Hillman fees and NIPDEC's fees".
Lindquist remarked: "In the course of our review we found a complete lack of control over the disbursement of funds from the AATT to Calmaquip.
''Neither AATT nor BHC accept responsibility for ensuring the quality of the delivery of specialty equipment. The Manager Finance at AATT claimed not to be in possession of any bank statements of the loan, but has copies of individual debit notes pertaining to equipment deliveries.
''On the other hand he did provide bank statements for a deposit account of AATT that is located in the Grand Cayman. No Explanation was offered as to why this account was in Grand Cayman.''
The Lindquist Report found the Airport project was a fraud on the public of TT and an abuse of public funds.
Exclusive Newsday Story: Lindquist report on Piarco Airport
The Robert Lindquist forensic interim report into the award of contracts for the $1.426 billion Piarco airport development project has found that the project was a fraud on the public of Trinidad and Tobago, and a clear abuse of public funds.
The report, extracts of which were obtained by Newsday yesterday, said its findings were consistent with a conspiracy to corrupt the contract selection process beginning in 1996 and carried on throughout the contracting period.
Lindquist said that the ranking of Northern Construction as the top contractor for the construction of Package 6, the selection of Northern for a new contract following the suspension of Construction Package 6, as well as the selection of Northern following the bid process on two other contracts were all the result of an original conspiracy to corrupt the contract selection process for the benefit of Northern.
Newsday understands that the Lindquist report has been in the hands of Prime Minister Basdeo Panday since early December 2000, but no follow-up action was taken which would have enabled the investigation to continue leading to charges against a number of people.
The Lindquist report stated that there was a conspiracy to "corrupt the contract selection process for the unjust enrichment of the 'players' and of defrauding the various state agencies of considerable sums."
It stated in part: "From all information received and from the examination of available records and documents, we have reasonable grounds to believe that fraudulent schemes were developed and promoted by the various parties throughout the entire contracting period."
It listed 11 schemes which were uncovered as (1) price fixing and bid rigging, (2) duplicate contract payments, (3) false invoicing, (4) defective pricing, (5) co-mingling of contracts, (6) conflict of interest, (7) false representation, 8. improper release of confidential information, (9) product substitutes, (10) tailored specifications, (11) time limitations.
It stated that a group of individuals and companies conspired together to control the award of contracts on the airport project, and in one instance, two days before a contract was to be awarded the requirements were changed and only two companies of which Northern Construction was one could meet the requirements on time.
The project which began with six contracts, was expanded to 13 contracts and questions have arisen as to whether there was duplication in the contracts leading to the work being paid for twice.
Karl's letter to AG Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Yesterday Karl Hudson-Phillips, QC, called on Attorney-General Kamla Persad-Bissessar to remember the Code of Ethics contained in the Legal Profession Act 1986 to which even the head of the Bar (the AG) is subjected to, when she is making statements. He was responding to comments she made in a political meeting in Couva on Wednesday night in which she asked about the terms of his engagement as Special Counsel to the Anti-Corruption Squad investigating Government projects.
The text of the letter is as follows:
November 30, 2001
The Hon Kamla Persad Bissessar, MP
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs,
Cabildo Chambers
25-27 St Vincent Street,
PORT OF SPAIN.
Dear Attorney General
My attention has been drawn to certain reports attributed to you on page 3 of the Express Newspaper of today's date. These statements appear under a bold headline "AG queries contracts for Lindquist and Karl."
You are reported as indicating that there is nothing on file in your Ministry concerning the terms of my engagement as Special Counsel to the Anti Corruption Squad investigating certain Government projects. By letter of the 20 November, 2001 you wrote to me indicating that you did not "have sight of the Letter of Agreement" covering my appointment. You requested me to supply you with "a copy of the document." I immediately replied by letter dated 22 November 2001 forwarding for your information my letter of appointment dated 7 November 2000 under the hand of your predecessor, the Hon Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj. From the newspaper report referred to above, it appears that you have either not received my reply and its enclosure or that you require further information which you are soliciting from me via the Press.
I am more than a little taken back and disappointed at the reports attributed to the titular head of the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago particularly with respect to the further statement attributed to you that the briefing of counsel by the Attorney General or for that matter any Government Ministry is subject to the tendering process supervised by the Director of Contracts.
I cannot believe that you are not aware that the briefing of counsel has never been subject to such a process. Nor is briefing of counsel referred to as "Letters of Agreement". I might have been confused by the use of the term.
Since you appear to be in doubt as to the circumstances in which I accepted the brief as Special Counsel offered me by your predecessor, I forward for your information my letter to him of the 8 November 2000. I think it is salutary for me to quote the penultimate paragraph of my letter as follows:-
"Given the present circumstances, I think that it would be prudent and ethical for me to limit my retainer to cover matters which I anticipate that I can accomplish prior to the 11 December 2000 (election day).
The Attorney General may wish to review my appointment after that date. In the circumstances, I attach for your attention a retainer which I anticipate will cover work which I can reasonably expect to accomplish in that period."
It is my wish that further statements by you concerning the above are made bearing in mind the Code of Ethics contained in the Legal Profession Act 1986 to which even the head of the Bar is subject.
Because of the publicity given to your statements I feel constrained, regrettably, to copy this letter to the Press.
Yours faithfully,
Karl T Hudson-Phillips, QC
AG attacks Newsday for Lindquist corruption report
By Earl Manmohan
Attorney General Kamla Persad-Bissessar has described the Newsday's exclusive exposure on Wednesday on the Robert Lindquist report on the Piarco airport project as "posing a threat to the due process of law".
In addition she said it could also pose a threat to the proper prosecution of the matter and to compromise and prejudice the investigations now being carried out by the Integrity Commission. The Lindquist report said that the development project at Piarco was a fraud on the public of Trinidad and Tobago and an abuse of public funds. Lindquist said his findings were consistent with a conspiracy to corrupt the contract selection process for the unjust enrichment of "players" and of defrauding the various state agencies of considerable funds. It mentioned price fixing and bid rigging, false invoicing among other things.
A copy of the report was sent to Prime Minister Basdeo Panday in January this year but no further action was taken by him.
The Commission has requested Lindquist to appear before it to clear up certain issues, but he is not likely to do so until after the December 10 General Election when Persad-Bissessar gives the all clear for him to come.
Noting that the report was an interim one, Persad-Bissessar who was speaking at a UNC political meeting in Dow Village, California in the Couva South constituency said the newspaper carried only selective parts of the report.
She told the crowd that the story carried no writer's name but they knew who wrote it.
Persad-Bissessar said the publication of the report was an attempt "to distract us from the real issues that confront the electorate at this time".
"Why did they choose only some parts of the report and leave the other parts out, because your aim is clear. Your aim must be clear, your aim is to get people to draw the wrong conclusions and to distract people of this country from the real issues that confront them," she said.
She noted that it was so important to know that somebody had the report months ago, but only now that it was election season, somebody leaked it to the Newsday.
Persad-Bissessar said there was nothing in the files at her Ministry about the terms of engagement of Karl Hudson-Phillips QC who worked with Canadian forensic investigator Robert Lindquist in his investigations and report.
"There is nothing about a contract to Karl Hudson-Phillips or Robert Lindquist. Nothing, but the report today is an interim report and so millions of dollars have been spent on this report, but it is incomplete, it is interim."
As a result she said she had written Hudson-Phillips and Lindquist asking them to send her their terms of engagement, the contract under which they were hired in order to deal with this particular project. She had also asked Lindquist to explain how and why it was only an interim report.
She wanted to know whether the contracts went through the Central Tenders Board, and said she had written to the Director of Contracts of the Central Tenders Board asking them to tell her how many bids were received, how many persons put in a tender to deal with this issue, what was their bid and how Hudson-Phillips and Lindquist were chosen to deal with this report. She asked: "How were they chosen, was it somebody tell somebody friend and say do this report for me or was it done in accordance with the Regulations and the Law of this country?
The Lindquist report raised questions about a "ghost" company owned one hundred percent by Birk Hillman, consulting contractors of the airport which was a one man show with no phone, no employees and which was incorporated just prior to the start of the airport project.
Deyalsingh not surprised at Lindquist findings
Justice Lennox Deyalsingh said yesterday that he was not at all surprised at the findings of fraud and abuse of public funds in the Robert Lindquist forensic investigations into the award of contracts in the Piarco Development Project.
Deyalsingh who conducted a Government inquiry into the matter in 1997 found one of the contractors, Ishwar Galbaransingh of Northern Construction guilty of unethical conduct and called for an end to the contracts that had been awarded.
Yesterday he told Newsday that from the very beginning it was obvious that something was very wrong with the tendering process, and the award of contracts for the Piarco development.
Following the Deyalsingh report which was tabled in Parliament on April 25, 1997, Galbaransingh filed for judicial review. Parliament took the unusual decision to release the report so that Deyalsingh could use it in court. Deyalsingh won his case before Justice Margot Warner who, while not commenting on Deyalsingh's finding, ruled that Galbaransingh was not given the opportunity to defend himself.
Manning calls for quick police action
By Azard Ali
Citing contract selection in the airport project as the root of the corruption, Opposition Leader Patrick Manning on Tuesday night called for quick police action.
"Those who do the crime must pay the time," he declared, adding that there was a clear and calculated plan to corrupt the contract selection process as the Lindquist report has indicated.
He told supporters at a meeting in Vistabella that when elected he would set up a public Commission of Inquiry into the airport construction.
It was a grave injustice, he added, that the selection process was manipulated which favoured one particular contractor. Manning said the PNM has been advocating transparency in the award of contracts and said their calls for a comprehensive airport probe were met with insults.
He said over-bidding on invoices, price fixing, double invoicing, price inflating were the actions of men with a "calculated plan".
The PNM Leader said the airport cost almost twice the amount of the initial estimate �$1.6 billion. He criticised Prime Minister Basdeo Panday for failing to act on the report.
"He gets the evidence and he does nothing about it. It was in his hands since December last and decides to do nothing about," Manning said.
Rory Phoulorie wrote::| UML, why is your answer to blatant corrupt practices within the PPG always "well the PNM did so and so. . . "?
Why can't you directly address the issue of corruption within the PPG? Don't hide behind the PNM. The PNM was also corrupt, everyone knows this.
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
Dr. K. Rowley: Heading, “Piarco International Airport Development Project”.
So why is this Government trying to fool people? We have too many schools in
the country and we all do not work by the moon, you know. We function every
day of the month. So do not come here and tell us nonsense about there being no
problem with the airport. What has happened here, Mr. Speaker, is that this
violation of the regulations results in us awarding a contract. It has nothing to do
with the justification or the viability of a new airport. We are paying more than we
should, and I want to show you something.
Hon. Member: We are building the airport.
Dr. K. Rowley: Yes, you will build the airport but as long as that airport
remains there it will be a symbol of shame in this country. [Desk thumping]. So
build it. It is a monument to your corruption and your “t’iefing”.
Hon. Member: Twice the price.
UML wrote:UML wrote:
NOT EVEN D DEAD SAFE WITH THE PNM!!!!:shock:FORMER MINISTER ALLEGES ILLEGAL ORGAN HARVESTING TAKING PLACE IN TOBAGO
Last Updated on 19.05.2015
Tobago Forwards Interim Leader Christlyn Moore has raised suspicions about possible illegal organ harvesting to source corneas.
Ms. Moore, a former Justice Minister, said there is a huge demand for corneal transplants in Tobago, but there are questions about the source of the corneas.
The newly-formed Tobago Forwards has lodged startling allegations against the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) turning a blind eye to illegal organ harvesting to meet the high demand for corneal transplants on the island.
The party's Interim Leader Christlyn Moore said a team of Specialists has been hired by the TRHA to conduct batches of up to 400 transplants a day.
But she questioned the source of the corneas.
"Questions have arisen as to the source of the corneas used for transplant. As you aware, Trinidad and Tobago has no eye bank where donated corneas are stored. Given the sheer number of the transplants occuring in Tobago over the last six to eight months, it is clear that these transplants were not sourced from willing donors and when I say willing donors, it is clear that several dozen people didn't come forward and say 'take one of my corneas for transplant' so that it must be that these corneas were harvested from deceased donors."
Tobago Forwards, under the Freedom of Information Act, is demanding data records from the Scarborough General Hospital disclosing the number of corneal transplants and the source of the corneas.
"The TRHA is obligated to disclose the source of these corneas. Where are you getting these corneas from so you can have this large amount of corneas on staff so you can then pay a specialised team per corneal transplant? Where are the corneas coming from? Have they been imported with the TRHA observing all the protocols for importing biological samples? And if they have been harvested in Trinidad or in Tobago, where are the appropriate consents from the families of the cadavers? It is gruesome to consider that there may be happening, in paradise, the unauthorised harvesting of organs of cadavers."
In light of these grave allegations, the procedures and practices of the TRHA have been thrown into the spotlight.
THA Health Secretary Claudia Groome-Duke said she heard about the allegations made by Ms. Moore but admitted she was unable to properly comment on it, since she did not have all the facts. Mrs. Groome-Duke, who said she was in a meeting for most of the day, told C News that a response from her Communication Department will be made as soon as the facts of the matter are obtained. http://www.ctntworld.com/cnews2/index.p ... Itemid=707
UML wrote:UML wrote:Couva West Secondary School was built under the PNM and has been plagued with problems from its inception. The pnm took away the children's field and built a school next to the same school. John Rahael was the contractor. No documentation for abandonment or destruction for the school next door has ever been found.
Couva West Secondary School took 7 years to build at a cost of $180,000,000.00
I doh think the Debe UWI will cost that much
. . .Anyway, as we are on the topic of schools, Education Facilitities Company Limited fired the contractors constructing the following secondary schools for non-performance (good going EFCL):
* Siparia East Secondary School
* Pleasantville Secondary School
* Mount Hope Secondary School
Let us see which contractors are awarded the contracts to complete these schools. I wonder if it will be a sole select, pre-qualified, or an open tender process for hiring the contractors.
Rory Phoulorie wrote:UML wrote:UML wrote:UML wrote:Couva West Secondary School was built under the PNM and has been plagued with problems from its inception. The pnm took away the children's field and built a school next to the same school. John Rahael was the contractor. No documentation for abandonment or destruction for the school next door has ever been found.
Couva West Secondary School took 7 years to build at a cost of $180,000,000.00
I doh think the Debe UWI will cost that much
we can compare the cost of a school the PPG opened (Rose Hill RC Primary School) yesterday at $33 million
Anyway, as we are on the topic of schools, Education Facilitities Company Limited fired the contractors constructing the following secondary schools for non-performance (good going EFCL):
* Siparia East Secondary School
* Pleasantville Secondary School
* Mount Hope Secondary School
Let us see which contractors are awarded the contracts to complete these schools. I wonder if it will be a sole select, pre-qualified, or an open tender process for hiring the contractors.
[/quote]UML wrote:NOT EVEN D DEAD SAFE WITH THE PNM!!!!:shock:FORMER MINISTER ALLEGES ILLEGAL ORGAN HARVESTING TAKING PLACE IN TOBAGO
Last Updated on 19.05.2015
Tobago Forwards Interim Leader Christlyn Moore has raised suspicions about possible illegal organ harvesting to source corneas.
Ms. Moore, a former Justice Minister, said there is a huge demand for corneal transplants in Tobago, but there are questions about the source of the corneas.
The newly-formed Tobago Forwards has lodged startling allegations against the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) turning a blind eye to illegal organ harvesting to meet the high demand for corneal transplants on the island.
The party's Interim Leader Christlyn Moore said a team of Specialists has been hired by the TRHA to conduct batches of up to 400 transplants a day.
But she questioned the source of the corneas.
"Questions have arisen as to the source of the corneas used for transplant. As you aware, Trinidad and Tobago has no eye bank where donated corneas are stored. Given the sheer number of the transplants occuring in Tobago over the last six to eight months, it is clear that these transplants were not sourced from willing donors and when I say willing donors, it is clear that several dozen people didn't come forward and say 'take one of my corneas for transplant' so that it must be that these corneas were harvested from deceased donors."
Tobago Forwards, under the Freedom of Information Act, is demanding data records from the Scarborough General Hospital disclosing the number of corneal transplants and the source of the corneas.
"The TRHA is obligated to disclose the source of these corneas. Where are you getting these corneas from so you can have this large amount of corneas on staff so you can then pay a specialised team per corneal transplant? Where are the corneas coming from? Have they been imported with the TRHA observing all the protocols for importing biological samples? And if they have been harvested in Trinidad or in Tobago, where are the appropriate consents from the families of the cadavers? It is gruesome to consider that there may be happening, in paradise, the unauthorised harvesting of organs of cadavers."
In light of these grave allegations, the procedures and practices of the TRHA have been thrown into the spotlight.
THA Health Secretary Claudia Groome-Duke said she heard about the allegations made by Ms. Moore but admitted she was unable to properly comment on it, since she did not have all the facts. Mrs. Groome-Duke, who said she was in a meeting for most of the day, told C News that a response from her Communication Department will be made as soon as the facts of the matter are obtained. http://www.ctntworld.com/cnews2/index.p ... Itemid=707
Specialists paid 'above, beyond'
Christlyn Moore: Allegation of possible organ-harvesting ring in Tobago
Published on May 19, 2015, 9:32 pm AST
By Kim Boodram
THE stunning allegation of a possible organ-harvesting ring in Tobago's medical system was made yesterday by attorney Christlyn Moore, interim political leader of the island's newest political party, the Tobago Forwards.
Moore said that some medical staff under the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) had come out and claimed the possibility that the corneas of some deceased patients were being harvested for transplant, without the proper donor procedures, including permission from the relatives of the dead persons.
Moore said the concerned staff had reported that a suspicious number of corneal transplants were starting to take place on the sister island, with poor records to indicate the sources of the corneas.
The transplants would take place periodically and were being done by a team of specialists who were being paid "above and beyond" for the surgeries, Moore said.
Unacceptable ambulance
service, neo-natal deaths
Moore also raised complaints about Tobago's near non-existent ambulance service and an alarming increase in neo-natal deaths.
The claims were made at a press conference held by Moore yesterday at The Renaissance Building on Maraval Road, Port of Spain.
Moore said the possibility of unethically acquired corneas, the only organs named so far in the allegations of a harvesting ring, must be clarified by health authorities.
Questions must also be asked, she said, as to whether large numbers of Tobagonians were in need of corneal transplants and whether the specialist team was being "incentivised" by the financial aspect of the operations.
The transplants were taking place through the public health system and it appeared so far that the recipients, usually persons were had spent long periods on a waiting list, were accepting the surgeries in good faith.
Moore has also called for the release of a report into the deaths last year of Lecianna Sheppard and her newborn son Ajanie Merrie.
Sheppard died shortly after doctors delivered Ajanie Merrie, who was also pronounced dead.
Moore said Sheppard's family is yet to be furnished with the report, while she, Moore, has filed numerous requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The matter is currently before the court but if the report is not available within the time stipulated by the law according to the Act, legal action will be taken, Moore said.
The Sheppard case is part of an alarming situation, Moore said, where Tobago once lagged behind Trinidad in neo-natal mortality but is now looking at 18 such deaths in the last 16 months.
Tobago is also looking at an ambulance service crisis, Moore said.
"Increasingly, people are being delivered by ambulance and are dying," Moore said.
Around March this year, Tobago ambulance fleet of "one" was increased with ten new vehicles, Moore said.
But the staff to complement the service is still lacking, meaning that persons being transported to the hospital via ambulance might not benefit from even basic life support. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20150519 ... ove-beyond
A primary school has about three or four blocks of two and three storey buildings. A secondary school has about 11 blocks of mostly three storey buildings. The mechanical services required in a secondary school are much more extensive than those required in a primary school. So, yes, the construction cost difference between a primary school and a secondary school is significant.UML wrote:so a secondary school should cost 6 TIMES the size of a primary school?
CLICO $20m PNM GIFT
How cash-squeezed insurance giant bankrolled 2007 elections
Published on Jun 21, 2009, 12:01 am AST
Updated on Feb 6, 2011, 12:01 am AST
Above:A cheque for $5 million, made out to the People's National Movement, dated June 29, 2007, and signed by then CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey, as well as three other signatories, was endorsed less than a month before the November 5, 2007, election by Rose Janierre, assistant party secretary, and Linus Rogers, PNM elections officer.
(BI) Feedloader User
Lawrence Duprey's CL Financial Group provided scarcely imaginable largesse to the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) party in the last general election at a time when it was already on the ropes—short on cash and highly leveraged.
The by-then cash-poor conglomerate bankrolled the 2007 election campaign of the Patrick Manning-led PNM party to the tune of some $20 million, according to sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
And while much of CL's money went through a somewhat circuitous route to sundry suppliers of goods and services: from the printing of fliers and tee shirts to tent and maxi-taxi rentals, the bulk of it was applied to direct billings from advertising agencies for media activity, said sources.
Some of it however, was paid directly into the party's coffers. One such payment was made directly to the People's National Movement from the group's insurance subsidiary, Clico, on June 28, 2007, for the generous sum of $5 million. The $5 million cheque, drawn from a Republic Bank-held account at Independence Square in Port of Spain, was endorsed less than a month before the November 5, 2007, vote by Rose Janierre, assistant party secretary and Linus Rogers, PNM elections officer.
The $5 million Clico payout to the PNM's war chest was made at a time when the country's No1 insurance company had already been red-flagged with solvency issues, a statutory fund deficit of close to a billion dollars and what financial observers warned were dangerously excessive levels of inter-party transactions within the group.
If the Manning government had any concerns about the holding company using the country's largest insurer as a lucrative little money machine, it not only kept its own counsel but it lined up at the feeding trough.
In the middle of this interplay of politics and business stood Andre Monteil, the then group financial director of Duprey's $100 billion business behemoth, his No1 lieutenant, party treasurer of the incumbent PNM government and the PNM face of the corporate animal known as CL Financial. Entrepreneurial titan Duprey was the other public face of CL Financial and despite his protestations of being a-political, he was viewed by many as a United National Congress or Basdeo Panday sympathiser.
Some say the group's fortunes rose and fell on the political connections of these two public faces of CL Financial. Whatever the truth, Duprey's CL Financial group spread a lot of wealth around the PNM in the last decade. And the point man who distributed a lot of that CL money around the ruling party was Duprey's right hand man, Andre Monteil, who, until recently, was numbered among the party's most formidable power brokers.
Monteil was also the corporate chieftain who operated within the context of loopholes that allowed the CL Group to conduct business as usual in the seemingly opaque world of deficient legislation and well outside the good governance expectations of the Central Bank. In his January 30, 2009, containment effort to rescue the floundering financial giant, Governor Ewart Williams complained that the Central Bank had been "stymied" by inadequate legislation from going after the rogue insurance company.
Governor Williams said that for the last five years the Central Bank was forced to watch helplessly from the sidelines as the country's No1 insurer sailed ever closer to the edge. He cited several areas of concern, including:
• Excessive related-party transactions which carry significant contagion risks.
• An aggressive high interest rate resource mobilisation strategy to finance equally high-risk investments, many of which are in illiquid assets (including real estate both here and abroad).
• A very high leveraging of the Group's assets, which constrains the potential amount of cash that could be raised from asset sales.
The Governor said that the Central Bank had consistently "focused on these deficiencies" but was stymied by the "inadequacies in the legislative framework which do not give the Central Bank the authority to demand the necessary changes". He also noted that it was a matter of public record that all was not well at Clico and that the financial crisis which forced an initial $1 billion taxpayer bailout on January 30 was long in coming.
Clico's solvency problems have in fact been on the public radar for close to two decades. In 1997, a report from the then Supervisor of Insurance raised concern about Clico's inability to satisfy its statutory fund requirements for the years 1992, 1993 and 1995 and the insurer's insistence in the face of a deficit on paying dividends. The years under question were during the first Manning administration 1991-1995. In fact, Prime Minister Manning was the Finance Minister in 2007 when his party received huge sums of money from the CL Financial Group.
Sources say CL was the single largest financier to the PNM's 2007 re-election campaign. A former executive at the brokerage firm of CMMB, one of the distressed finance companies owned by the CL Financial Group, told the Sunday Express that in 2007 Monteil complained that CMMB was the only board he sat on that didn't give the PNM money.
In 2007, Monteil was chairman of the Home Mortgage Bank (HMB), Clico Investment Bank (CIB), the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the Education Facilities Co Ltd. He was also a member on the board of directors of the CCN Group, parent company of the Trinidad Express Newspapers, Home Construction Ltd (HCL) and Angostura Holdings Ltd.
A CCN spokesman said yesterday that the media group made no donation to the PNM 2007 campaign or to any other party for that matter.
Monteil was a co-signatory to the $2.5 million cash payment to the party in the 1995 election at a time when he sat in the Group Financial Director's chair. He later became party treasurer following the death of Anthony Jacelon in April 2005.
And while Duprey may have signed off on some overly generous financing for the PNM and friends of the ruling party, sources close to him say it got him no favours. In fact, Duprey allies contend that his testimony about providing scholarship and other financial gifts to the Pandays in the Panday corruption trial had the effect of setting him in the gun sights of the then Attorney General John Jeremie.
The Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB), a premier white-collar police unit operating under the wing of the Attorney General's office, raided Duprey's private Maraval residence and his corporate offices in what the courts later ruled were illegal searches.
And as reported in an exclusive Sunday Express series detailing the sharp exchange of correspondence between Jeremie, in his first tenure at Cabildo Chambers and the then Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson, now a High Court judge, Jeremie, in 2006 attempted to pressure Henderson into bringing criminal charges against Duprey and Panday, the then Opposition Leader. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/CLI ... 01109.html
UML wrote:CLICO $20m PNM GIFT
How cash-squeezed insurance giant bankrolled 2007 elections
Published on Jun 21, 2009, 12:01 am AST
Updated on Feb 6, 2011, 12:01 am AST
Above:A cheque for $5 million, made out to the People's National Movement, dated June 29, 2007, and signed by then CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey, as well as three other signatories, was endorsed less than a month before the November 5, 2007, election by Rose Janierre, assistant party secretary, and Linus Rogers, PNM elections officer.
(BI) Feedloader User
Lawrence Duprey's CL Financial Group provided scarcely imaginable largesse to the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) party in the last general election at a time when it was already on the ropes—short on cash and highly leveraged.
The by-then cash-poor conglomerate bankrolled the 2007 election campaign of the Patrick Manning-led PNM party to the tune of some $20 million, according to sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
And while much of CL's money went through a somewhat circuitous route to sundry suppliers of goods and services: from the printing of fliers and tee shirts to tent and maxi-taxi rentals, the bulk of it was applied to direct billings from advertising agencies for media activity, said sources.
Some of it however, was paid directly into the party's coffers. One such payment was made directly to the People's National Movement from the group's insurance subsidiary, Clico, on June 28, 2007, for the generous sum of $5 million. The $5 million cheque, drawn from a Republic Bank-held account at Independence Square in Port of Spain, was endorsed less than a month before the November 5, 2007, vote by Rose Janierre, assistant party secretary and Linus Rogers, PNM elections officer.
The $5 million Clico payout to the PNM's war chest was made at a time when the country's No1 insurance company had already been red-flagged with solvency issues, a statutory fund deficit of close to a billion dollars and what financial observers warned were dangerously excessive levels of inter-party transactions within the group.
If the Manning government had any concerns about the holding company using the country's largest insurer as a lucrative little money machine, it not only kept its own counsel but it lined up at the feeding trough.
In the middle of this interplay of politics and business stood Andre Monteil, the then group financial director of Duprey's $100 billion business behemoth, his No1 lieutenant, party treasurer of the incumbent PNM government and the PNM face of the corporate animal known as CL Financial. Entrepreneurial titan Duprey was the other public face of CL Financial and despite his protestations of being a-political, he was viewed by many as a United National Congress or Basdeo Panday sympathiser.
Some say the group's fortunes rose and fell on the political connections of these two public faces of CL Financial. Whatever the truth, Duprey's CL Financial group spread a lot of wealth around the PNM in the last decade. And the point man who distributed a lot of that CL money around the ruling party was Duprey's right hand man, Andre Monteil, who, until recently, was numbered among the party's most formidable power brokers.
Monteil was also the corporate chieftain who operated within the context of loopholes that allowed the CL Group to conduct business as usual in the seemingly opaque world of deficient legislation and well outside the good governance expectations of the Central Bank. In his January 30, 2009, containment effort to rescue the floundering financial giant, Governor Ewart Williams complained that the Central Bank had been "stymied" by inadequate legislation from going after the rogue insurance company.
Governor Williams said that for the last five years the Central Bank was forced to watch helplessly from the sidelines as the country's No1 insurer sailed ever closer to the edge. He cited several areas of concern, including:
• Excessive related-party transactions which carry significant contagion risks.
• An aggressive high interest rate resource mobilisation strategy to finance equally high-risk investments, many of which are in illiquid assets (including real estate both here and abroad).
• A very high leveraging of the Group's assets, which constrains the potential amount of cash that could be raised from asset sales.
The Governor said that the Central Bank had consistently "focused on these deficiencies" but was stymied by the "inadequacies in the legislative framework which do not give the Central Bank the authority to demand the necessary changes". He also noted that it was a matter of public record that all was not well at Clico and that the financial crisis which forced an initial $1 billion taxpayer bailout on January 30 was long in coming.
Clico's solvency problems have in fact been on the public radar for close to two decades. In 1997, a report from the then Supervisor of Insurance raised concern about Clico's inability to satisfy its statutory fund requirements for the years 1992, 1993 and 1995 and the insurer's insistence in the face of a deficit on paying dividends. The years under question were during the first Manning administration 1991-1995. In fact, Prime Minister Manning was the Finance Minister in 2007 when his party received huge sums of money from the CL Financial Group.
Sources say CL was the single largest financier to the PNM's 2007 re-election campaign. A former executive at the brokerage firm of CMMB, one of the distressed finance companies owned by the CL Financial Group, told the Sunday Express that in 2007 Monteil complained that CMMB was the only board he sat on that didn't give the PNM money.
In 2007, Monteil was chairman of the Home Mortgage Bank (HMB), Clico Investment Bank (CIB), the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the Education Facilities Co Ltd. He was also a member on the board of directors of the CCN Group, parent company of the Trinidad Express Newspapers, Home Construction Ltd (HCL) and Angostura Holdings Ltd.
A CCN spokesman said yesterday that the media group made no donation to the PNM 2007 campaign or to any other party for that matter.
Monteil was a co-signatory to the $2.5 million cash payment to the party in the 1995 election at a time when he sat in the Group Financial Director's chair. He later became party treasurer following the death of Anthony Jacelon in April 2005.
And while Duprey may have signed off on some overly generous financing for the PNM and friends of the ruling party, sources close to him say it got him no favours. In fact, Duprey allies contend that his testimony about providing scholarship and other financial gifts to the Pandays in the Panday corruption trial had the effect of setting him in the gun sights of the then Attorney General John Jeremie.
The Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB), a premier white-collar police unit operating under the wing of the Attorney General's office, raided Duprey's private Maraval residence and his corporate offices in what the courts later ruled were illegal searches.
And as reported in an exclusive Sunday Express series detailing the sharp exchange of correspondence between Jeremie, in his first tenure at Cabildo Chambers and the then Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson, now a High Court judge, Jeremie, in 2006 attempted to pressure Henderson into bringing criminal charges against Duprey and Panday, the then Opposition Leader. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/CLI ... 01109.html
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