THA Chief Secretary to sue ex-deputy

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has plans of suing former deputy chief secretary and electoral representative for Roxborough/Argyle Watson Duke for allegations of corruption made against him.

At a media briefing on Monday following the election of a new deputy chief secretary at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex, Augustine said he had been very deliberate in his communication since the debacle began.

“My silence, which I treat as being golden, I think was absolutely necessary to ensure that the business of governing Tobago did not get muddied with all of the back and forth.

"I did not think that the back and forth was necessary given some of what we’re hearing in the space are unfounded – all of what we’re hearing in the space is really unfounded.”

Referring to a press conference last week at the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) Trinidad headquarters in Bartaria in which party leader Duke made allegations of corruption against him, Augustine insisted that all such claims were false.

“I have already been in consultations with my lawyers inclusive of a King's Counsel and I intend to pursue legal actions that would treat with that matter. Which means that I would not be wasting precious time to debate these falsehoods in the public space.”

He said that a lot of the noise in the space is “sponsored.”

“I have not just reliable information, but irrefutable evidence, that a lot of this is sponsored by those who do not want to see me bring before the Tobago, public matters concerning the audit report, which I would be delivering to the people of Tobago come Thursday.

"Come hell or high waters, it would be brought to the public’s attention and in full view of the public. When I give a much more comprehensive report on that audit, you will understand where, not only do we have correlation, but where we have direct causation of these noises.”