PM defends AG over building lease

THE Prime Minister yesterday defended his Attorney General (AG) over claims by the Opposition of nepotism in the PNM government renewing the lease on a building which AG Faris Al-Rawi's family has an interest.

Speaking during CNC3's Morning Brew programme yesterday, Dr Rowley was asked whether he was running the risk of his administration being accused of imparting favours to friends and colleagues especially with the Opposition contending a conflict of interest involving the AG and the leasing of the property.

Rowley said he had no doubt that there were some people do just that. He said where the Government has no space for offices, they hire from other people.

"When you rent from somebody you are not giving them money, you are buying a service from them. There are procedures when Government wants a building. In this case the Cabinet was aware and took steps to ensure that there was no conflict of interest. A building was on the market, a Government department was interested in the building," Rowley said.

"There is a Government section whose job it is to do all that is required, and if at the end of the day those things meet the Government's needs and the person involved was not involved in that negotiation, then we had no problem. It was done by the arm of the state, the unit of the state whose job it was to source that.

"If a job is available and somebody in the PNM is qualified, but that person shouldn't get it because he is PNM, I am not of that view," Rowley said.

We didn't go out looking for Faris' building, Rowley said, to give him a rental, the building was on the market. "The AG when he came into public life, he left his business behind for his family. At the Cabinet, every single time that matter came up, I ensured the AG wasn't even in the room when it was discussed. For those of you who believe he gave himself that, it is not true. If a conflict arises there are ways of dealing with it."

Rowley said he will not support penalising someone because they happen to have a connection to the PNM. In response, the Opposition UNC described Rowley's interview on the Morning Brew, as a "desperate bid to repair his government’s image and deflect attention from their failures.”

UNC public relations officer Anita Haynes, said in the release, that Rowley needed a reality check as with thousands now unemployed, he provides little hope for better days to come. “That he could say, with a straight face, that the PNM is doing a good job at governance, is nothing short of astounding,” Haynes said.

“To make matters worse, he chose this forum to defend the lease by the government of a property owned by AG Faris Al-Rawi, amounting to millions of dollars, claiming proper procedures were followed. The Prime Minister claimed that he ensured that the AG was not in the room when the matter came before Cabinet. But this, as well as the AG’s claim that he recused himself, is not enough. No matter how they try to spin it, it is highly unethical, and quite possibly illegal,” Haynes said.