Imbert hits UNC’s Young family conspiracy

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday he does not know why the UNC keeps raising the issue of alleged impropriety involving a PNM MP’s family in relation to Government contracts awarded to NCB Global Finance.

The Jamaican-based financial group is headed by Angus Young in Trinidad. He is the younger brother of National Security Minister Stuart Young and son of former Scotiabank TT managing director Richard Young. The bank has won tenders from the Government to raise $2.6 billion in debt capital for the State – or just under four per cent of the total $70 billion raised over the last five years, Imbert said.

Asked at a virtual press conference on Thursday why he thought the Opposition kept raising this as an issue, including on the campaign platform in the run up to the August 10 general election, Imbert replied: “I think it must be the internal election (scheduled for December).

“I guess the Leader of the Opposition (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) is looking for relevance, I don’t know. Maybe the UNC is hurting still from that defeat and the back to back defeat and maybe they want to say the PNM is as bad as the UNC, you know misery loves company so maybe they want to join us in their bacchanal but we are not like them.”

At the UNC’s Monday night forum, Persad-Bissessar said that the Young family benefitted from billions of brokered deals. “This allegation from the Leader of the Opposition that (Richard Young) was a commission agent or broker for NCB Global Finance and got millions of dollars is outrageous,” said Imbert, noting he asked the eldest Young flat out if he ever acted as a broker or agent on to NCB, which he “denied absolutely.”

Imbert also said that Stuart Young recused himself from every Cabinet decision that involved NCB in any way. “The Leader of Opposition said he recused himself 57 times. I don’t know how many times, but I can say that every time we (the Ministry of Finance) submitted a note to Cabinet to get approval to award a mandate to a bank regarding arranging a loan for a state enterprise or Government and NCB tendered, whether they were successful or not he (S. Young) recused himself,” Imbert said. This is the third time Government has had to publicly deny the Opposition’s allegation. Also on hand at the press briefing was Public Administration Allyson West who sought to clarify Government’s position regarding properties on Alexandra Street leased by the State that are connected to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and his family.

She said as is standard practice, the AG recuses himself “just as everyone in Cabinet when there’s a conflict of interest.” There were seven recusals, she said: four regarding the property at number three Alexandra Street and three recusals related to One Alexandra. Three Alexandra is owned by Zaman Enterprises Ltd, while One Alexandra is owned by NJ Nahous Investments Ltd, both of whose directors include close relatives of Al-Rawi. The rental cost and outfitting of Three Alexandra, used as the offices for the Personnel Department, was raised by Opposition MP Saddam Hosein during the Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee meetings last week.