PARIA ENQUIRY WANTS MORE TIME

The survivor of the Paria diving tragedy and the families of the four men who died are upset that the report on the incident will not be submitted this month.

The commission of enquiry (CoE) into last February's acccident at Paria Fuel Trading Co Ltd in Pointe-a-Pierre has requested a new deadline of November 30.

On February 25, 2022, divers Rishi Nagassar, Kazim Ali Jr, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry and Christopher Boodram were doing maintenance work on a 30-inch underwater pipeline belonging to Paria when they were suddenly sucked into the pipeline. Only Boodram survived.

The CoE was originally due to submit its final report to the President in May. But in a statement on May 5, the commission said it had written to President Christine Kangaloo to seek an extension until August 31.

A statement issued by the commission's secretariat on Monday said the commission was unable to meet that deadline. The commission has now written to the President to ask for an extension until November 30.

In a signed letter to Kangaloo dated August 28, commission chairman Jerome Lynch, KC, said the commission could not meet the August 31 deadline "as there have been a number of new decisions dealing with the importance of the proper procedure to be adopted in CoEs."

The commission cited two cases. The first was from the United Kingdom, R (Hexpress Healthcare Ltd) –v– Care Quality Commission.

The second was local, Civil Appeal P 286 of 2020 between Hart –v – The CoE-La Alturas Housing and others.

Lynch said, "These cases deal with a range of issues to ensure fairness to everyone and that the parties have a fair opportunity to make their case in particular where there are to be criticisms of individuals that may affect their careers and lead to recommendations as to criminal conduct or a potential for the breach of a duty of care."

The commission, he continued, has "sought to ensure that very outcome and everything it has done has been to ensure that no one is shut out. "

Lynch said, "Not everyone we may criticise was represented at the enquiry."

Against that background, the commission has given the parties extra time to provide written responses. The commission is still awaiting some of those responses.

Lynch said, "Additionally, the commissioners' professional commitments outside of this CoE have also caused some further delay, mine in particular."

He said it was important for the commission not only to act in such a way to ensure fairness but to be seen to do so.

"We are also very alive to the need to ensure that the possibilities of judical review being mounted by any of the parties criticised by this CoE is addressed lest such action cause rather more substantial delay and/or unwarranted litigation or worse still the annulment of any part of the final report."

Referring to the Las Alturas enquiry, Lynch said that CoE took 20 months to complete its work.

But, he added, "Then had a significant number of its findings set aside by the Court of Appeal seven years later for want of fairness to some of the parties."

Lynch said the November 30 deadline will "ensure the maximum degree of fairness within a timescale that, we trust, will not be regarded as unreasonable, can be achieved.

The commission will hold a virtual news conference in the first week in September. At that briefing, Lynch will address any questions arising from this development.

Boodram was disappointed to hear about the extension.

"It hurts at a certain level, like this thing is getting drowned out.

"There is nothing any of the families (of the divers) could do in the interim until this enquiry is finished."

While he understood legal issues could be responsible for the delay in the final report, Boodram did not believe those would be a problem for the members of the commission.

"These are professionals. Mr Lynch is King's Counsel. He is not now doing this. He is doing this years."

Boodram said the CoE's lead legal counsel, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, "is one of our best senior counsel."

He asked, "What is all the holdback and the delays and moving like they're now trying to figure out what's going on?"

Boodram felt Lynch and Maharaj already understood the legal issues involved.

"For them, that should be the easy part. The hard part was gathering the information and sorting out the information.

"It's depressing me. It's really, really depressing me."

Boodram said he relives the trauma of last February daily, adding, "My friends who died, their families are out there fighting to survive."

He said that included struggling emotionally and financially to make ends meet for their children.

"How long do they expect these children to be suffering? Are they even thinking about these children?"

Boodram felt he was "a victim to the law."

He recalled being told by other people that the matter would have been resolved already if it had happened in another country.

"You're not getting any kind of financial relief. We're not getting any kind of comfort from the Government."

Boodram lamented that no government official had told the families anything was being done to help them.

"After the whole melee, people forget everything."

Boodram said he would never dive again, and his family was surving only on his wife's salary.

"I'm not doing any work right now because I'm still having a lot of issues, in terms of I'm not getting enough sleep."

Boodram was uncertain about ever working in TT again.

"They say OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Agency) will protect you. I'm not feeling protected by OSHA."

Boodram believed Lynch was one of the best lawyers in his field.

"That's why the Government chose them to do this job."

He asked if the extension was because someone was withholding information from the commission.

Boodram recalled the commission's previous statement on May 5 about issuing Salmon letters. In that statement, the commission said that was why it requested an extension of its deadline of May to August 31.

It said the delay was necessary as those who were issued with Salmon letters had been given until June 9 to respond in writing, and until June 21 and 22 to respond orally.

Salmon letters are sent to individuals or companies that will be subject to criticism in a report.

Vanessa Kussie, Nagassar's widow, said, "It's very painful. They are playing with our lives. They are playing with the lives of our children."

Kussie, who was elected a UNC councillor in the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation on August 14, said the extension did not make the commission, Government or Paria look good.

"I am struggling to cope day to day. As I now got this news, it really hit me hard."

She said her children still ask for their father.

"This is something that we have to go through every day – sometimes ten times for the day."

She added it would soon be two years since the tragedy happened.

Kussie said no one ever apologised to the divers' families, and neither Paria not LMCS Ltd, the divers' employer, was doing anything to help them.

Attorney Prakash Ramadhar, who represented Henry's family, said, "I spoke to my clients and they are very disappointed."

But he appreciated "the need to ensure that when this report comes out that it is not susceptible or vulnerable to legal attack."

Ramadhar was confident that Lynch, his fellow commmissioner Gregory Wilson and Maharaj would ensure that would not happen.

"I really hope at the end, the report will be as wholesome as we expect it to be."

On March 8, last year, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of the CoE.

Dr Rowley said it was being done after complaints were raised by the Opposition UNC about the formation of a five-member committee of experts to investigate the incident.

Rowley said he had come to the conclusion that the situation had been politicised to such a high degree that the public would not now accept the recommendations of that committee.

In June, responding to a question from the Opposition in Parliament, Energy Minister Stuart Young said Government could not dictate to the commission or seek to influence its outcome.