Showdown in the House

AS THE House of Representatives, at 10 am today, resumes debate on a bill to seize criminal assets, both sides used the weekend to dig in their heels on their sharply conflicting views.

Last Friday, Government MPs - Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, Terrence Deyalsingh, Ancil Antoine, Randall Mitchell and Edmund Dillon - squared off against Opposition MPs Bhoe Tewarie, Tim Gopeesingh, Ganga Singh, Christine Newallo-Hosein and David Lee in the debate. The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are yet to make their views known in the House.

Dr Rowley voiced support for the bill at a PNM rally at Five Rivers Secondary School on Saturday evening. At this rally, AG Al-Rawi vowed it would go to the committee stage and be passed. But yesterday, Opposition Senator Wade Mark damned the bill as “draconian and unconstitutional” during a press conference at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Port of Spain.

Rowley on Saturday warned supporters, "Be very careful and cognisant of who you are listening to. Their story is not your story.”Recalling the Piarco Airport expansion project (under Basdeo Panday's UNC govt), the Section 34 scandal and Prisongate, Rowley said, “That’s the record of Kamla Persad-Bissessar.” He claimed the Opposition does not want government to be able to go after laundered money.

At that PNM rally, Al-Rawi said he may impose a floor of $300,000 or $500,000 for the explain-your-wealth legislation. Saying criminals are laughing at the population, he implored, “We are in a war for survival. Who before has sought to take the profit out of crime?”

He said the bill was not unconstitutional and assured any case made by the police, customs or tax office must go to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), then an agency under the bill, and finally to court. Al-Rawi hit back at Opposition claims he should declare his wealth, by saying he has already done so.

Yesterday, Mark said, “Some businessmen in Port of Spain built high-rises which they rented for $23 million. They will tell you they made it by selling cloth. Can the Attorney General explain the wealth of his family."

He said if the bill becomes law it would affect everyone. “It will allow citizens to be terrorised and their property confiscated unlawfully.”

We already have laws, Mark said, for police to seize citizens’ property, but only after they have been convicted for a criminal offence. Allowing seizures without a conviction and on the basis of mere suspicion, Mark added, is “irresponsible, dangerous and reckless.” Saying the country is on the brink of an election, he alleged the Government wanted to pass a law which they can use against its political rivals.