Moonilal: More travel questions for Prime Minister

OROPOUCHE East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal says the Prime Minister can expect to be interrogated further in the House of Representatives on April 19 about expenditure on his overseas travel .

That will be the second sitting of the House for April.

According to the House's standing orders, prime minister's questions are asked at that sitting.

On April 17, Moonilal was not satisfied with Dr Rowley's response to questions he raised at a UNC public meeting in Princes Town on April 15 about the Prime Minister's overseas travel.

"He can expect no respite on Friday (in the House). There will be no corner to hide. He could have borrowed personal protective equipment (PPE) from the fire services – but they have none."

Moonilal said, "The Prime Minister don’t have to answer me, he has to answer to the taxpayers. If he wants to play coy after spending millions of dollars on wasteful trips, that's his business."

Moonilal's criticism of Rowley's overseas travel was based on a written response to a question which was circulated in the House last week.

The question asked about the cost of official overseas visits Rowley made from September 20, 2020- February 29, 2024.

The response said the total estimated cost was $10,604,655.27

The visits included a visit to London to sign agreements for restructuring Atlantic LNG last December and meetings in Washington, DC, with high-level US government officials.

The latter included meetings with top officials at the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency about security matters of mutual interest.

In response to Moonilal's criticisms, Rowley said, "I am not prepared to respond to anything Dr Moonilal has to say about taxpayers' money until he complies with the court order and put in his defence in the EMBD (Estate Management Business Development Company Ltd) matter, where millions of taxpayers' dollars are yet to be accounted for."

In February a group of contractors filed an application for conditional leave to appeal to the Privy Council after failing to have a multi-million-dollar cartel case brought against them by the EMBD struck out.

At a status hearing of the claim, which also includes former EMBD officials and former housing minister Moonilal, on February 21, attorneys for the contractors said they had not yet received a date for the hearing of the conditional-leave application.