Young: 'I have the evidence'

National Security Minister Stuart Young 

PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB -
National Security Minister Stuart Young PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB -

NATIONAL Security Minister Stuart Young on Wednesday said he has evidence to support his statements at last Friday's PNM meeting in Belmont about senior UNC members colluding with criminals.

Young also said he has evidence regarding "fishermen" who are able to gather to large US-dollar ransoms at a moment's notice.

He made these statements in his budget contribution in the Senate.

Young told senators, "I am very cautious about what I say." He continued, "I guarantee those in this Senate, as well as outside, that (for) a lot of my recent utterances, including on the political platform last week Friday, I have the evidence to substantiate everything that I have said."

Young did not elaborate.

UNC MPs Dr Roodal Moonilal and David Lee have challenged him to name the people he was speaking about.

Young also observed, "There has been a lot of crying out in the population about fishermen."

As minister, Young said, he has been very careful about the people he calls fishermen. After noting that a number of kidnappings have taken place recently, he said he was fairly certain that no government or independent senator would be able "to raise US$5,000 in cash from a bank if they walked into a bank now."

He put a question to the population: "How could a fisherman raise US$20,000 in cash overnight to pay a ransom?"

Young said these people were intercepted by law enforcement officers when they were going out to fish and: "There was not a single hook, line, sinker in any of the vessels, nor any fish."

He did not elaborate on this statement either.

Young then dismissed repeated claims by Opposition Senator Wade Mark about corruption in the Government's arrangement to acquire two Cape Class vessels for the Coast Guard. Denying allegations Mark made earlier in the sitting, Young reiterated that each vessel cost US$41 million. Reading a statement on his phone from Australian shipbuilder Austal, which is building them, Young said Austal indicated the UNC's claims "are not accurate, because the comparison is not apples for apples."

He said several factors influenced the cost, and reiterated that the contract for the vessels included a programme for maintenance and spare parts.

"I reject completely and out of hand what has been suggested repeatedly by Senator Mark," Young declared.

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"Young: ‘I have the evidence’"

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