COP BETTER THAN CoPBy Andre Bagoo Thursday, March 11 2010
SINCE LAST year, Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert was asked by two successive Acting Directors of Public Prosecutions to investigate Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira and former Udecott executive chairman Calder Hart, yet to date Philbert’s probes into all of these matters have not been completed.
Checks done by Newsday revealed that Philbert has not completed any of the investigations into the top members of the Government.
In stark contrast, a six-week investigation by the political party, the Congress of the People (COP), last week yielded compelling results in the form of documents which disclosed clear links between Hart and a firm awarded $820 million in Udecott projects.
The failure of Philbert to conclude his investigations, in light of the seeming ease with which the COP was able to confirm an allegation which was first made since 2008, intensifies concerns over the State’s ability to administer justice in light of allegations of corruption.
Among the investigations Philbert has not yet completed are:
• an investigation, recommended since May 21, 2009, into Prime Minister Patrick Manning in relation to claims made by Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr that Manning had entered into an agreement in relation to the 2002 General Election;
• an investigation into Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira, recommended even earlier on March 20, 2009, over the issue of conflict of interest stemming from the minister’s holding of assets in subsidiaries of the State-acquired CL Financial Group;
• an investigation into Calder Hart, recommended since December 2009, on the basis of evidence which emerged in the Uff Commission of Inquiry which linked Hart to the Malaysian firm Udecott awarded $820 million in contracts. Asked yesterday about the status of all of these investigations, Philbert said, “those investigations are ongoing.”
It was only on Tuesday that Roger Gaspard, who on that date was installed in the substantive post of DPP, advised the police to investigate Hart for his tenure as Udecott executive chairman in the wake of the emergence of new documents disclosing links between Hart and two directors of Sunway Construction Caribbean Limited.
The documents were obtained by the COP who sought them after a COP member, Vernon De Lima, was threatened with litigation by Hart’s lawyers. The COP said they obtained the documents in six weeks time, with the assistance of lawyers from Malaysia and using information that had been in the public domain.
Yet, Philbert and the police, who were yesterday said to be liaising with Malaysian officials to authenticate the documents, appear to have not had them before this month and to have failed to take independent steps to obtain them.
In relation to the investigation of the Prime Minister, the former Acting DPP Carla Brown- Antoine, wrote Philbert since May 21, 2009, advising him that allegations made by Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr in the course of a court case brought by the State against the Jamaat were worthy of investigation. On May 5, 2009, the Privy Council had expressed the view that if Bakr’s allegations, contained in an affidavit dated June 8, 2006, were true the alleged conduct of the Prime Minister would have been “corrupt within the meaning and intendment of Section 3 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1987.” The alleged agreement involved Bakr offering the PNM assistance with the 2002 General Election. In March 2009, Brown-Antoine had also advised Philbert to investigate Nunez-Tesheira who resisted calls for her resignation in light of the emergence that she held assets in CL Financial subsidiaries even while she presided, as Finance Minister, over the CL Financial bail-out.
In a letter to Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar, dated March 20, 2009, Brown-Antoine revealed that she advised Philbert to investigate Nunez-Tesheira.
“I have... referred this matter to the commissioner for investigation with my advice as to the conduct of same,” Brown-Antoine, whose appointment to the substantive post of DPP was later vetoed by Prime Minister Patrick Manning, wrote.
In relation to Hart, Gaspard, then acting as DPP, wrote Philbert on the matter advising him to investigate a dossier, dated October 26, 2009, submitted to Gaspard and Philbert by Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh.
The dossier summarised evidence that had emerged in the Uff Commission of Inquiry in May, evidence that had been in the public domain and on the commission’s website for months. The evidence, including three sworn statutory declarations with a separate legal existence from the inquiry proceedings, elaborated on links between the Malaysian-born Mrs Sherrrine Hart and Sunway Construction Caribbean Limited’s Malaysian directors Lee Hup Ming and Ng Chin Poh.
In a letter to Gopeesingh, dated December 18, 2009, Gaspard responded to the dossier and revealed, “please be assured that I have given consideration to the contents therein and have forwarded a copy of your letter to the Commissioner of Police for whatever action he deems fit.”
Yet, it was only on Tuesday that Philbert announced the appointment of a team of officers to investigate links between Mrs Hart and Sunway as disclosed in the COP documents. The links have since been alleged in Parliament by Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj since May 2008.
This month Winston Riley, president of the local construction industry’s Joint Consultative Council, lamented that it was a political party and not the police that, in the end, was able to, through official means, apparently confirm the family ties between the Harts and two members of Sunway Construction Caribbean Limited.
“In this country, it is the private citizens who appear to be doing the jobs of those in authority, including that of the police,” Riley said. Philbert’s acting appointment was extended for a third time by the Manning administration after a controversial selection process which saw the Government reject the Police Service Commission’s top choice for Commissioner of Police, ACP Stephen Williams.
The Government, in Parliament in July 2008, rejected ACP Williams and argued the process which resulted in Williams’ selection was flawed.
