Mark: PSC/CoP calamity turns away investors

OPPOSITION Senator Wade Mark claimed the "constitutional calamity" surrounding the collapse of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the absence of a substantive commissioner of police (CoP) in office will deter foreign investment in Trinidad and Tobago

Mark made this claim during his contribution to the budget debate in the Senate on Monday. After supporting Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's position on these issues, Mark asked, "Which foreign investor would want to inject capital into a country that cannot even select a CoP?"

He observed that some countries are actively promoting the exciting new industry of space tourism. "Private companies are now testing rockets and the ability to take paying customers into space. That is what is happening now elsewhere in the world."

But in TT, Mark scoffed, " A merit list from the PSC, cannot even travel from the President's House to the Parliament." He asked, "Which foreign investor would want to invest money in a country where the chief lawmaker cannot draft the simplest of documents, much less for being able to draft the complex financial regulatory framework rather than foreign investors require to ensure protection of their investment?"

Referring to the unnamed "chief lawmaker" again, Mark said that person "uses Parliament to make unfounded accusations against a Member of Parliament and then is promptly forced to apologise." After recalling previous statements by Finance Minister Colm Imbert about improving revenue through tax collection, Mark said the unnamed chief lawmaker should be taxed "on every case that he has lost."

He claimed, "We should not have to worry about property tax after that. With that money, we could buy everybody in this country a Porsche Cayenne (vehicle)." Mark also claimed foreign investors would be deterred from investing in TT if they believed that an unknown public official was acting as a puppet master to appoint a CoP.

Opposition senators thumped their desks when Mark insisted there is no greater threat to a country's democracy than the erosion of the rule of law and the collapse of independent institutions.

After describing the 2022 budget as "a PNM road to nowhere," Mark called for clarity about a proposed sale of 10,869,565 of ordinary shares in First Citizens Bank (FCB), He also alleged FCB was recently involved in an investment with an entity which is a paper company Mark called for an internal forensic audit to shine a light into this alleged dark matter. " I am an FCB depositor. Who will protect our investments?" He alleged this was "a growing Ponzi scheme." He demanded the resignation of the bank's CEO and board of directors if no audit took place.

Mark reiterated the UNC's claim that the PNM and not the covid19 pandemic has crashed the economy. Agreeing with Persad-Bissessar that the budget was a declaration of war on the population, Mark claimed the budget was also "the getaway car for the PNM to drive away with the national patrimony."