By Andre Bagoo Thursday, March 11 2010

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Mutual assistance: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, right, in Port-of-Spain for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year. Attor...

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He further revealed officers of the Office of the Attorney General were liaising with officials from Malaysia over the issue of the authentication of documents linking Hart with Malaysian firm, Sunway Construction Caribbean Ltd, which Udecott awarded $820 million worth of contracts for the Legal Affairs Tower project.

In an unusual departure from his low-key profile outside of Parliament, the Attorney General held a press conference at Cabildo Chambers, St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, one day after newly appointed Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard advised the police to probe former Udecott executive chairman Calder Hart on the basis of links disclosed in documents between Hart and Sunway, formerly CH Development.



Jeremie said the Government decided to probe Udecott during the Uff Commission of Inquiry hearings when it became clear that Udecott was challenging the proceedings in court.



“While the Government was prepared to await the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the construction sector before initiating action, once Udecott commenced legal action in September 2009, which had the potential to delay or frustrate the commission’s work, already thrown into doubt by the failure to gazette the commission, the Attorney General thought it necessary to protect the public’s interest,” Jeremie said. “A criminal investigation was therefore launched on September 21, 2009, with the appointment of forensic investigator Bob Lindquist and with the assistance of the Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago.”



According to Jeremie, Lindquist’s terms of reference included: the Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower, being constructed by Sunway, and “the Tarouba development” which comprises the Brian Lara Stadium, which is three years behind schedule and whose costs are said to be approaching $1 billion.



Jeremie did not explain why it only took Udecott’s court action to trigger the Lindquist probe. He also offered no explanation for utterances by members of the Cabinet who defended Udecott since last September and who appear to have been ignorant of the Lindquist probe.



“For this assignment, an officer of the Special Anti-Crime Unit was assigned to Mr Lindquist who has also had the co-operation of Mr David West of the Central Authority,” he said. “They have been working assiduously on this matter and a preliminary report was in fact submitted.”



Asked to account for the Government’s failure to investigate the allegations against Hart in relation to the Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower, which were made since May 2008, Jeremie said he was satisfied with the pace with which the Government has acted and argued that an inquiry was needed to determine the veracity of the allegations of simple family links.



“I am satisfied with the time-frame within which the Government has acted. The Government moved to establish a commission of inquiry,” he said.



Jeremie said he gave Prime Minister Patrick Manning advice on the matter last Friday, one day before Hart resigned as Udecott executive chairman in the wake of the emergence of documents obtained by the Congress of the People. Newsday last week published the COP documents, birth and marriage certificates of Hart’s wife Sherrine, her sister and a director of Sunway.



“Following the publication last Wednesday of documents which purported to establish a relationship between the then executive chairman...the Attorney General sought and received a written legal opinion at 9 am on Friday morning,” he said. “Upon receiving the first preliminary advice I immediately communicated with the DPP and the Commissioner of Police on Friday last and advised them of the need to pursue certain urgent lines of inquiry. I also spoke with the Honourable Prime Minister.”



He did not rule out officers of the Central Authority travelling to Malaysian to authenticate the documents. He also noted an agreement between this country and Malaysia precludes the mention of “investigations in the public domain.”



Just last November, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who may have to assist in these matters, visited Trinidad and Tobago for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.



Jeremie said he had been in contact with Hart’s lawyers who gave him a date for Hart’s return. While there had been previous reports that Hart was due to return the country from Florida, within the week, Jeremie yesterday said Hart is expected “before the end of the month.”



And with sources yesterday saying the remaining Udecott directors may soon be forced out of office, Jeremie said he had been assured the Udecott board would not challenge a ruling made by High Court judge Justice Mira Dean-Armorer who last Friday threw out Udecott’s attempt to block the submission of the Uff Commission of Inquiry report to President George Maxwell- Richards.



The Attorney General’s disclosures came as the construction industry’s Joint Consultative Council yesterday held an emergency meeting at which the council resolved to write the DPP advising him to take steps to authentic the documents and to examine other legal options.