Patricia Jycerie wept openly yesterday as she recalled how a nagging feeling to check on her younger sister saved her own life when her home was firebombed yesterday. 

Jycerie, 54, said she was just about to retire for the night around 1 am when she succumbed to an urge to check on her sister, Evelyn Antoo. Antoo, 52, was born with Down Syndrome and cannot care for herself.

As Jycerie made her way into her sister’s bedroom, she heard several loud explosions and saw the living room where she was seated moments before erupt into flames. 

Her son, Special Reserve Police (SRP) officer Reynold Charles, 39, who was asleep on the ground floor of the house, was awakened by his mother’s screams. He is attached to the Gran Couva Police Station.

When the T&T Guardian visited their home at Frasal Street, Gran Couva, yesterday, Jycerie said police were unsure whether the incident was linked to her only child’s job or an ongoing dispute with neighbours. 

“I had just finished watching ZeeTV when I keep feeling like I should check my sister who was sleeping in the backroom,” Jycerie recalled, noting they threw “channa bombs” inside.

“As soon as I reach in the room and I see her still asleep, I hear ‘Pow, pow, pow’ and I was about to run outside when I saw the fire already blazing. 

“They threw bottles into my bedroom, the gallery upstairs, the living room, the van in front the house... they were pelting the bottles one after the next. If I was in my bed I wouldn’t be here talking to you today... I would have burnt up.”

Jycerie was able to lead Antoo down the steps at the rear of the house while Charles ran up the front stairway with a garden hose to try to put out the flames.

During the interview, Charles complained of pains on his feet and hands as he suffered burns about the body. 

“I wake up hearing my mother screaming. I thought someone had broken in and was attacking her.

“I run out and saw the top of the house already engulfed in flames. I tried to put out the fire with the hose but it was too much. Some of the neighbours came out with water buckets but we couldn’t do anything else,” he said.

Jycerie watched in horror as the “house that doubles built” was destroyed by fire.

“I sell doubles for real years to be able to build this house. I always tell people, doubles build this house,” she said.

As the family waited for relief as well, fire officers trying to reach them were stopped in their tracks by a wooden bridge leading into their street. 

The bridge has a six-ton weight limit and the officers had to stop before it and drag their hose a few hundred feet to Jycerie’s home.

Charles said if the bridge had not presented such a problem the officers may have been able to do more to save the house.

“It was more work for them. If it wasn’t for that bridge, they would have been here a lot faster,” he said. 

He estimated his family’s losses at over $.5 million. 

Gran Couva police are continuing investigations. 

sharlene.rampersad@guardian.co.tt

Fraud accused Vicky Boodram has been sent to St Ann’s Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation on the request of her attorney.

Boodram, who is facing more than 140 fraud-related charges stemming from different transactions, re-appeared in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court.

When the matter was called, attorney Jason Jackson told Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John he was representing Boodram and had made certain observations about his client.

Jackson told the magistrate before he took any further steps for written instructions he would want her to be sent for a psychiatric evaluation at St Ann’s Hospital.

Jackson submitted a document to the magistrate to support his request. 

Boodram, a former travel agent, was initially charged with 109 fraud charges arising out of failed cruise ship packages. She was also charged with two money laundering cases and was out on $2 million bail.

However, in March she was rearrested by Fraud Squad officers on another set of alleged fraud matters. 

Those offences, which include 40 offences ranging from larceny by trick and uttering forged documents, involved multiple victims and different transactions. She was denied bail on those charges.

  Boodram’s reappearance yesterday was in relation to the latter charges. An order for Boodram to be remanded to St Ann’s was made before the matter was adjourned to June 23. 

However, when Boodram returns on that day the matter will then be adjourned to July 1 to meet the other charges.

The Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial for a 48-year-old man from Tobago accused of raping a 12-year-old schoolgirl in 2008. 

Appeal Court judges — Paula Mae Weekes, Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Mark Mohammed — ordered the retrial after upholding an appeal brought by Clint Melville. 

In their judgment, the judges ruled that Melville’s trial judge failed to  direct the jury properly on how it should analyse a statement he had given to police in which he had denied the attack on the minor. 

The judges noted that the statement was crucial to his case as it was consistent with his defence presented in his trial. 

They also held that the judge was wrong to tell the jury the medical report on the minor certified she was attacked hours before she was examined as the official report did not give a suggested time at which the attack may have taken place. 

While they ruled that the misdirection on the report would not have led to his conviction by itself, they said that it and other shortcomings by the judge would have prejudiced his trial which ended in him being sentenced to 15 years in prison.  

The attack reportedly occurred on February 23, 2008. The victim testified that Melville invited her to his home, pulled down his pants and underwear and did the same to her and had sex with her against her will.

She said she told him to stop but he did not and again attempted to have sex with her a second time and only stopped when she told him she was in pain.

She claimed Melville offered her $20 to “build back her energy” and told her to go home. The girl reported the attack to her mother and then to police.

The High Court order granted last December “freezing” the assets of Super Industrial Services (SIS) was still in place and there has been no dismissal of the matter brought against SIS by the National Gas Company, Minister Stuart Young (Office of the Prime Minister) stressed yesterday.

NGC had applied for and obtained an injunction granted by the court last year, freezing SIS’ assets in its ongoing contractual dispute with the company over the construction of the Beetham Water Recycling Plant. 

At yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, Young stressed there had been no change in that as he denied yesterday’s Express report which stated the assets had been “unfrozen”. He said he was very surprised at the report. 

“There has been no lifting of the injunction regarding SIS’ assets and there has been no dismissal of the matter brought by NGC against SIS. In fact, the judge (in this matter) has called for a hearing tomorrow morning.

“My understanding is that SIS has taken a certain position in law which NGC’s attorneys feel are wholly inaccurate. A  judge will have to decide. But the matter hasn’t been dismissed or thrown out, it’s a very live matter - and in particular there has been no lifting of the injunction over SIS’ assets,” he said.

Young warned anyone who had to do anything in connection with SIS’ assets to be “very careful. Despite what was reported in the newspapers, the injunction continues to be in place.”

Young said he understood the attorneys may be looking at contempt proceeding, as he understood “Rain Forest, which appears to be a shell company, had certain mortgages over the SIS assets to a certain tune... those may have been released and discharged and may be in breach of the court order.”

In this matter, he said, it had been found that the company called Rain Forest had taken mortgages for “hundreds of millions” without any passage of money, over SIS’ assets and the mortgages have now apparently been released. He claimed that action “may very well be in contempt of the current court order.”

Yesterday the NGC also denied, via a statement, there was any “unfreezing” of the court order.

“Contrary to reports appearing in the media, the freezing order granted by the High Court on December 23, 2015 on the application of the National Gas Company of T&T Ltd over the assets of Super Industrial Services Limited up to the value of TT$180,000,000, remains in effect,” NGC stated.

“The injunction granted by the High Court on December 23, 2015, restraining Rain Forest Resorts Limited from disposing of properties mortgaged to it by SIS also remains in place. Neither the freezing order, the injunction nor the action have been struck out by the High Court. There is no court order to that effect,” it added.

NGC said the matter was still engaging the attention of the High Court but noted SIS was contending by letter from its attorneys that the matter had ended. 

“While the injunction remains in force it has come to the attention of NGC that RFRL has released the mortgages over the SIS properties which are the subject of the injunction. The High Court will be asked to grant relief in respect of this breach of the order of the High Court,” it said.

NGC also stated that under the High Court order which continued in force “it is a contempt of court for any person or entity notified of the freezing order and injunction knowingly to assist in or permit a breach of the order of the High Court.”

Conflicting views on case

National Gas Company (NGC) chairman, Gerry Brooks, says it was very unfortunate that a completely erroneous impression about the NGC/SIS court matter was created by attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC.

"Firstly, Maharaj is not privy to the proceedings and secondly, the High Court action is actively before the judge," Brooks said, as he noted it was solely up to the judge to make a pronouncement on the matter.

But Maharaj, in a statement, said although he was not the SIS attorney, he represented several companies which were not owned by SIS or were subsidiaries of SIS and those companies and their workers were affected by the freeze order. As a result, the jobs of approximately 800 workers were in jeopardy, he added.

“I received the documents from the workers of these companies which show the correspondence which passed between SIS’ lawyers, NGC’s lawyers and the Registry of the Court. 

“Based on the contents of those letters, I looked at the rules of court and it is clear to me that the claim is struck out. Consequently, the freezing order which was granted in support of the claim was also automatically struck out. 

“In law, when a claim is struck out it is a dead claim and all the proceedings in relation to the claim are dead,” Maharaj said.

Maharaj said the situation occurred because NGC had failed to apply for relief. He said under Rule 27.3 (b) of the Civil Proceeding Rules (CPR), the High Court was required to give notice of a case management conference within 14 days of filing of the last defence in cases with two or more defendants.

 In this case, he said the court was required to give notice by the March 7, 2016 but did not. 

He said if the court failed to give notice within 14 days, the claimant was required to apply for a date for a case management conference but that did not occur and the claim was therefore automatically struck out on March 22. 

Maharaj said NGC had three months from the date of the service of the defences, February 22, 2016, to apply for relief from the sanction that the claim had been automatically struck out.

“Three months from February 22 would be May 22 2016. This is the only remedy which the CPR gave to NGC to apply to the court for relief from the sanction of the claim being automatically struck out,” Maharaj added. With reporting by Rhondor Dowlat

Former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh has described Monday’s firing of five Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) as a “witch-hunt, political viciousness and outright victimisation.”

He was responding to the axing of managers Veda Ramnath, Ria Narinesingh, Frank Mahabir, Surendra Balgobin and Deva Sharma by the EFCL board, led by chairman Arnold Piggott.

The managers were terminated following the completion of two forensic audits into the EFCL’s operations which showed there were irregularities.

The terminations came seven months after a secret “contract millhouse” was discovered at the EFCL’s head office in Maraval, which resulted in armed guards being called in to secure a mountain of potentially-damning evidence which pointed to the illegal manufacturing of backdated tender documents worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yesterday, in defending the five, Gopeesingh insisted that was another prevailing instance of “political viciousness and outright victimisation” at the hands of the ruling People’s National Movement Government against those who worked under the People’s Partnership adminstration.

“Where is Dr Rowley when he said he was going to govern T&T for all the people? This is in direct contrast to his words so it is not surprising they would have been dismissed. 

“All that is a lot of hogwash. They are trying to find something where there is nothing to find,” he added.

Gopeesingh said the manner in which the five managers, including EFCL’s CEO Sharma Maharaj and chief operations officer Kiran Shah, who were unceremoniously fired in February, the “EFCL may have to pay millions of dollars for wrongful dismissal.”

He also denied knowledge of a “contract millhouse.”

“There was no ‘contract millhouse’ that I know of. There will always be people who would try to make mischief. They are grasping at straws now.”

Having worked with the seven managers, Gopeesingh said they all operated in accordance with the EFCL’s board.

“All the managers reported directly to the board while the board reported to the ministry’s permanent secretary.”

Gopeesingh said he was not involved in the day-to-day affairs of the EFCL.

“There is nothing untoward as far as I am concerned that occurred under my watch and whoever is setting up that mischief is deliberate in its attempt. 

“They are on a witch-hunt.”

Gopeesingh said of the 60 ECC centres constructed under the PP, 53 were governed under the guidelines of the Inter-American Development Bank.

He said 38 contractors were involved in the construction of the Early Childhood Care and Education Centres while 28 contractors were responsible for building 40 primary schools.

“Some of those contractors lost monies on the job because they built schools for $700 a square foot, when it was priced between $1,500 to $2,000 a square foot in other areas.”

Questioned if $90 million allocated by the State to pay contractors was instead used by EFCL to pay favoured contractored, Gopeesingh said that was a matter for the board since everything had to go through rigorous checks and balances by the ministry before the Minister of Finance signed off.

Pressed further about the audit which discovered that a cache of almost $35 million in prepared and signed cheques which were withheld from the contractor, Gopeesingh said he knew nothing about that.

Gopeesingh said the PNM was focused on cutting jobs and undertaking forensic audits rather than dealing with issues affecting citizens.

One of the 11 men accused of murdering former Independent Senator Dana Seetahal, SC, claims to have been abused by police and prisons officers. 

Devaughn Cummings made the allegation before the start of yesterday’s second hearing of the preliminary inquiry into Seetahal’s assassination in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court. 

When the case was called by Senior Magistrate Indrani Cedeno, Cummings, who was seated in the prisoner dock, immediately got up and made his complaint.  He said while being searched by police in the holding cells at the St Vincent Street courthouse, he told one of them not to place his bag with his court attire on the dirty floor. 

“The officers just start to lash me,” Cummings said. 

He also claimed to have been the victim of several unprovoked attacks at the hands of prisons officers while in prison. 

“When the officers see me they does say that is the man who murder Dana and attack me,” Cummings added. 

During yesterday’s hearing, special State prosecutor Elaine Green tendered the witness statements of a crime scene investigator who processed Seetahal’s crime scene into evidence. Defence attorneys were then given an opportunity to cross-examine the witness. 

Yesterday’s hearing was the first since Cedeno dismissed a preliminary application from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to amened a series of charges under the Anti-Gang Act, which were laid against the 11 men charged with Seetahal’s murder and three people others who were not: David Ector, Devon Peters and Stacy Griffith. 

In its application, the DPP’s Office had admitted to laying the charges indictably (heard and determined by a High Court Judge and jury), as opposed to summarily (heard and determined by a magistrate) as prescribed by the legislation. 

However, Cedeno said the amendment could not be permitted as she felt the accused would be prejudiced by it. Her decision on May 27 saw Peters being freed. Ector was not immediately released as he had an outstanding warrant for an unrelated offence and Griffith because she still faces a charge under the Anti-Gang Act in Seetahal’s case that was laid correctly. 

Rajaee Ali, his brothers Ishmael and Hamid Ali, Devaughn Cummings, Ricardo Stewart, Earl Richards, Stephan Cummings, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales, Roget Boucher and Gareth Wiseman are accused of Seetahal’s murder.   

Seetahal was shot dead behind the wheel of her SUV while driving along Hamilton Holder Street, Woodbrook, on May 4, 2014.

The accused men’s legal team includes Criston J Williams, Sade Duprey and Jennifer Osbourne. The inquiry will resume on June 23. 

Examinations at the Marabella North Secondary School were brought to a halt yesterday as teachers and students were evacuated when an anonymous caller phoned in a bomb threat. 

According to sources inside the school the call came in around 9.30 am. 

The caller informed his listener there was a bomb in the school building. Before hanging up, the caller recited an Arabic verse. 

The school was immediately evacuated and students gathered at the school’s muster point. 

Fire Services and police rushed to the school’s compound but all was calm for the next hour-and-a-half as they awaited the arrival of the Bomb Detection Unit of Special Branch. 

When the officers arrived with bomb-sniffing dogs just before 11 am, about 200 students were dismissed for the day. 

About 100 Form Three students were kept on the compound as the threat had interrupted their exams. 

After an hour-long search of the school buildings the students were allowed to re-enter around noon to resume their exams. 

An officer of the Marabella Police Station described the situation as nothing more than a “high school prank.”

Up to news time, no one was arrested or detained for the incident.

Meanwhile, second vice-president of the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA), Lynsley Doodhai, condemned the incident.

In an interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Doodhai said those types of threats were becoming too prevalent. 

“TTUTA strongly condemns what happened at the Marabella school this morning. These incidents are becoming more prevalent and create disruptions to both the teaching and learning process. 

“I hope that when the perpetrators of these bomb threats and other scares are found, they face the full brunt of the law,” he added.

He said those threats were especially damaging to students at exam time.

“Students will already be under some pressure because of exams and when you have incidents like these, where exams are delayed, it is cause of concern for TTUTA as the students are prone to higher levels of pressure and stress.”

Describing an attempt by Trevor Creft to murder his former common-law wife in 2009 as a horrific case of gender-based violence, a judge yesterday sentenced him to ten years in prison.

“Women must be treated with respect at all times. Anything short of that and those who cannot control their emotions will feel the full brunt of the law,” said Justice Maria Wilson, presiding in the San Fernando Third Assizes.

Saying a strong message has to be sent against such actions, Wilson noted in recent times in T&T there had been numerous reports in the newspapers about women in particular, being killed by current and former partners and spouses.

 “Such acts in my view amounts to extreme cases of domestic violence,” she said, adding people must stop resorting to violence to resolve their issues. 

In this matter, however, the victim, Tricia Anthony, was deemed as a hostile witness, as well as her mother and brother, after they claimed not to recall the incident on June 19, 2009. 

Anthony, who received a disability grant because of an injury to her right hand inflicted by Creft, told the probation officer she had forgiven Creft who was a good father and she pleaded for him to be set him free.

State prosecutor Mauricia  Joseph was force to rely on their statements from the preliminary inquiry at the magistrates’ court and their police statements to prove the case.

 Creft, a security officer from Fyzabad, was found guilty by a jury on March 23.

Anthony, then 21, was stabbed in the neck with a seven inch knife when Creft attacked her at her mother’s home in front of their two-year-old son. 

Anthony lived with Creft for a year-and-half but left him because he was physically abusive and often threatened to kill her and her family if she went to the police. 

Recalling the evidence, the judge said Creft called Anthony telling her he wanted a $100 because he lost his wallet in a taxi. When he arrived at the house, Anthony came downstairs handed him their son and went back upstairs.

When she came back and was handing him the money, he grabbed her hand pulled out a knife from his waist and grabbed her neck. She fell to her knees while her son stood on the side of Creft. 

She grabbed on to the blade and he pulled it away. She was then stabbed in the neck and cut several times.

More Government grants are coming for those who are being negatively affected by the economic downturn, with special attention to be paid to those who lost their jobs.

The good news, coming some five months before this year’s local government elections, was announced by the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services on Wednesday as it launched the first of four social dialogues to be held across T&T.

“The ministry already provides numerous grants and services to assist the poor and the vulnerable but we know we can and must do better,” Minister Cherrie-Ann Crichlow-Cockburn announced during a feature address at the launch at the University Inn and Conference Centre on the St Augustine Campus.

She added: “As a first step we are looking internally at our processes and delivery to identify how we can improve those (grants) as to provide more efficient and relevant products and services to our clients.”

The dialogues will take place over the next two weeks and has been titled “Building Resilience to Secure our Nation”.

The ministry’s aim is to get views from the national community on how to develop a National Social Mitigation Plan.

The large crowd of NGOs, youth organisations, trade unions and private sector representatives which was expected did not turn up. A small crowd was seated around tables.

A ministry source, responding to questions from the T&T Guardian on the number of people who had their grants stopped and whether new grants are coming, said thousands had their food cards stopped because they failed the Government’s means test.

“There is a perception we would have stopped food cards from those who didn’t deserve them. People were called in to go over a new analysis and workers would have gone to their homes to do investigations,” she said.

As for the $500 Baby Grant, which was introduced by the last Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration and stopped by the PNM when it came into power after September 7, the ministry source said that was stopped because of the widespread number of grants given to the vulnerable.

He said not only more grants will be given out but they will be given out after a robust means test and would cater to people generally negatively impacted by the economic downturn. 

The ministry would consolidate with other ministries which also gave out grants to avoid the “double dipping” by citizens, the source said.

In her address, Crichlow-Coburn citizens said should prepare for change. 

“I expect the strategies that will comprise the National Social Mitigation Plan may require changes to current programmes and policies and the creation of new tools and responses to effectively support people, jobs, investments and businesses,” she added.

In a surprise move, the Opposition walked out of Parliament yesterday, after its requests to debate the plight of financially disadvantaged sick children and the country’s soaring murder rate were refused by House Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George.

The walkout occurred just before Finance Minister Colm Imbert delivered his explanation of government’s $2.5 billion withdrawal from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF).

But even before the walkout took place, tensions had been generated between the Speaker and Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal over the way he had attempted to present a question.

Moonilal had filed a question for reply by the Government concerning the injunction granted to the National Gas Company against the assets of Super Industrial Services Ltd (SIS). 

He’d started to read the question he had originally filed with the Parliament. But he was halted by the Speaker and advised to read the question (number seven) as it was stated on the agenda. He remarked then that he should read “your question” (inferring the question as it was structured on the parliament’s agenda). The Speaker asked him to withdraw that statement and apologise.

Moonilal asked what he should withdraw. He was told to withdraw the statement he made about the question. He questioned, “What statement is that?”

The Speaker then suspended proceedings for three minutes.

During the break, Moonilal showed reporters the original question he’d filed and started reading. It was different from the one on the agenda. When proceedings resumed, the Speaker asked if he’d had an “opportunity to consider what your position is.”

Moonilal asked if he should read question seven and in response to her next question—if he would read the one on the agenda—agreed to do so. He didn’t apologise or withdraw the earlier statement, nor was he asked about it by the Speaker again, and proceedings continued.

But shortly after, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar unsuccessfully sought leave to raise two matters of urgent national importance for debate. 

One involved government’s failure to provide timely access to the Children’s Life Fund to financially disadvantaged children in need of urgent life-saving medical treatment. She noted several children had already died because of government’s failure to provide this and the lives of other children similarly circumstanced were in jeopardy. 

Another motion concerned government’s failure to address the unprecedented increase in the number of murders in T&T, which Persad-Bissessar said had citizens living in fear and was damaging T&T’s international reputation.

But the Speaker said the motions didn’t qualify under the Standing Orders where they were filed and suggested another SO. 

She added that while the matters were important, they needed to be filed correctly. She also said there was need for a meeting between the presiding officer and Opposition MPs and a request had been received. She said she expected the chief whip’s delegation to take the opportunity of the meeting next Monday for “all these matters” to be clarified.

Opposition MPs then rose and exited the chamber. 

Briefing thrown out of Parliament

The Opposition UNC was yesterday denied access to a parliament space to host a media conference after they walked out the House.

They had intended to explain the walkout to reporters, at a planned briefing at the office of the Opposition at the Parliament complex. But parliament communication official Jason Elcock told reporters that press conferences weren’t allowed while the House was in session. Instead, the Opposition addressed reporters on the parliament grounds.

Persad-Bissessar said she was casting no negative reflection or aspersion on the speaker’s refusal to allow the two matters for debate, but added, “We’re very disappointed as we believe it’s urgent to save the lives of children, one child (Naveen Harrypersad) died two weeks ago and another, previously.”

She noted the deaths occurred while parents awaited a determination by the Attorney General of the definition of ”exceptional circumstances” in order to access the fund.

“That’s totally offensive and horrendous,” she said, adding she also tried for the second time to have the murder situation debated.

“The National Security Minister gives us these platitudes, yet daily murders are occurring, unprecedented; they’re outstripping the numbers of days in the year. It must be a priority discussion—that’s what Parliament is for.”

Moonilal, explaining the matter with the Speaker, said a question had appeared on the agenda in his name but he hadn’t recognised it and was merely indicating to the presiding officer that it wasn’t his question. He said he wasn’t prepared to ask a question which wasn’t his and had a difficulty with that and was “merely enquiring if the Speaker had drafted the question, but I’m not rude to anybody, I have no intention of being disrespectful to anyone—I was just seeking clarification.”

Persad-Bissessar said the walkout had nothing to do with Moonilal’s issue.

“We walked out when we were disappointed that these two matters which are urgent to people were not allowed,” she said.

She also said Imbert’s HSF statement also lacked details on what the funds would be used for and was a waste of time.

A contracted employee working at the Prime Minister’s St Ann’s residence was stopped by Special Branch officers on Thursday when “traces” of marijuana were found in his vehicle, a Government security spokesman confirmed yesterday.

Word broke on this early yesterday, but both Ministers Stuart Young (Office of the Prime Minister) and Edmund Dillon (National Security) referred queries to the police and acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams.

The Police Communications Department later confirmed the incident, saying the man was someone who had gone to do work on the PM’s residence.

Traces of marijuana were found in his vehicle, a station wagon, around 9.15 am by Special Branch officers attached to the residence, as they did the normal check of vehicles and people entering the compound, a release from the police service said yesterday. An apparatus popularly called a “grinder” was also found with the ganja. The man was not allowed to enter the compound as a result of the find and officers were said to be preparing to lay charges against the man.

The T&T Guardian learned the man was employed by a contractor who has been putting up barbed wire on the fencing at the official residence/Diplomatic Centre compound. 

Meanwhile, yesterday in Parliament, Dillon addressed reporters on the issue of the prime minister’s security detail who, officials said, had been told their services were no longer needed when they turned up for duty yesterday with the PM. However, they were still on the Parliament compound yesterday awaiting direction. (See page A6)

Officials said the security detail was told “your services are no longer needed” when they went to pick up the PM. The T&T Guardian learned there had been issues with very extended periods of work.

The Prime Minister was later seen in Parliament with a Special Forces officer and not the usual Special Branch officer. 

He reportedly went to the Parliament with acting Attorney General Stuart Young’s detail of police and military officers. The AG has that type of security. Young is acting for AG Faris Al-Rawi, who is overseas at a Caribbean Financial Action Task Force conference.

Members of the PM’s (former) security detail also later went to the Parliament, where they were seen, and were on the compound awaiting instructions from the acting Police Commissioner, under whose ambit they fall. —GA

Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday defended his position on the withdrawal of $2.5 billion from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF), saying if this was not done the country would have faced a crisis while Government would have been guilty of fiscal irresponsibility.

He said T&T’s overdraft had reached 100 per cent of its limit “and unless urgent action was taken, the Government would have been unable to pay salaries or pay for critical and essential goods and services.”

Speaking during yesterday’s sitting of Parliament, Imbert said the Government cannot whimsically use the HSF as a “bran tub” as claimed by the Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, since there are strict legal rules for drawdowns. He added, however, that the HSF legislation does not require parliament’s approval for a withdrawal, a fact Opposition members were aware of. 

“To have a divisive parliamentary debate at a time when quick fiscal action is required cannot be good policy, or practical, and this fact was clearly envisaged by the Parliament in 2007 and by all governments since then,” Imbert said.

While Imbert envisaged no further drawdowns in fiscal 2016, he said if it becomes necessary to provide the required support for government expenditure in 2016, they would consider all options for financing the service of T&T, including the remaining available drawdown from the HSF. He said the maximum permitted drawdown for 2016 was US$675 million and Government only withdrew US$375 million. The HSF has over US$5.3 billion in its coffers to date, he noted.

“And with specific reference to the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund, it must be emphasised that the purpose of this fund is to offset serious shortfalls in revenue in periods of depressed petroleum prices. It is not, as some believe, a trophy to be kept on the shelf and never to be touched,” he said.

“In fact the legislation that established the Heritage Fund caters for drawdowns when the revenues from petroleum are lower than projected by a factor of ten per cent, whereas at this time we are facing a 75 per cent reduction in revenues from petroleum in 2016.” 

For the period October 1, 2014, through September 30, 2015, Imbert said the revenue from petroleum was only TT$11.6 billion, below the projected petroleum revenue of TT$19.1 billion for fiscal 2015.

In totality, the projected shortfall in income from all revenue streams in 2016, Imbert said, was close to $10 billion, when compared to the September 2015 figures. In reality, Imbert said, the Government had over $9 billion in credit in its account at the Central Bank in 2008/2009, as a result of budget surpluses over the years. 

“As a result, the Government was able to draw down on these surpluses in 2008/2009 to deal with the shortfall in revenues at that time. We have no such luxury,” he said.

“In its first two years in office, the previous UNC government used up all of the surpluses left by the PNM in the Central Bank, and then sent the government’s account into permanent overdraft. We came into office meeting a situation, in 2015, where the previous UNC government had burned through over $6 billion in credit it found in 2010 and had used up virtually all of the $9 billion.”

Fund separation coming

In delivering his statement, Imbert also sought to clarify his reason/s for the drawdown, which led to a lot of confusion and misconceptions by the national community.

“This was the only available source of funds in May 2016. If we had not done this the Government would have been guilty of fiscal irresponsibility and the country would have been in crisis. 

“The HSF drawdown therefore was simply to finance the well-known budget deficit, not for any item in the Budget in particular. When I used the term for the service of Trinidad and Tobago in 2016, that is exactly what I meant.”

He said the drawdown “was simply added to the revenues we collect from other sources to help meet our expenditure commitments—all our expenditure commitments—both current and capital expenditure ... to pay bills.”

In answering the query that no indication of the HSF withdrawal was given to the country, Imbert said in his mid-budget review in April he had indicated that in 2016 Government would close the “$15 billion gap with borrowings and one-off items of extraordinary income, such as proceeds from sale of Clico assets, repayment of past lending from TGU, dividends from NGC, drawdowns from the HSF, the proceeds of the Phoenix Park IPO and so on.”

He explained that the HSF Act, which was approved by Parliament in 2007, called for a five-year review, which should have been completed by March 2012.

“I am told that sometime in early 2012 there were discussions with the World Bank in which the then minister of Finance (Winston Dookeran) participated and that a draft of an amendment to the HSF had been prepared. Between March 2012 and June 2015, the previous government had more than ample time to introduce the amendment, but it did not happen. It is, however, this government’s intention to undertake the necessary public consultation and bring the amendment to Parliament before the end of this year.”

He said Government will also move to separate the Heritage from the Stabilisation element.

Purpose of the HSF:

•Cushion the impact on or sustain public expenditure capacity during periods of revenue downturn whether caused by a fall in prices of crude oil or natural gas

•Generate an alternate stream of income so as to support public expenditure capacity as a result of revenue downturn caused by the depletion of non-renewable petroleum resources

•Provide a heritage for future generations of citizens of T&T, from savings and investment income derived from the excess petroleum revenues.

Uncertainty surrounds the status of the National Gas Company (NGC)’s injunction freezing the assets of contractor Super Industrial Services (SIS). 

Amid speculation earlier this week that the injunction had been removed due to an alleged legal error and later denials, attorneys for both parties met for a hearing at the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday. 

The hearing before Justice Joan Charles was held in camera and the media was not permitted entry. But both sets of attorneys refused to comment on the case as they left court after the seven-hour marathon hearing. 

The injunction was granted on December 23 last year after a protracted dispute between the company and State-owned NGC over the US$162,055,318.77 project, which is still incomplete. It prohibited SIS, which was awarded the contract to design and build the facility in March 2014, from removing from the country, or in any way disposing of, dealing with or diminishing the value of any of its assets in T&T. While the injunction froze $180 million of the company’s assets, it does not affect its assets exceeding this value. 

The dispute between the parties started last year after delays in the project, which was due to be completed on October 21, 2015. The contract was eventually terminated on November 24 after SIS reportedly informed NGC it was unable to continue with the work “under the current circumstances and current conditions of the contract.”

Days later, Minister in the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Stuart Young, disclosed in Parliament that Government was considering all options in seeking to recover costs incurred on the project, which started under the former People’s Partnership government. 

In an interview earlier this week, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, who is representing a group of workers from companies connected to SIS which were allegedly incorrectly affected by the asset freeze, claimed the injunction had been struck out based on documents he received from his clients. 

But both NGC and Young have denied this. However, after yesterday’s hearing the attorneys for both sides refused to disclose anything on the matter, even with regard to whether the injunction was in force or not. 

National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said yesterday that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is being well protected by the police and Defence Force.

He, however, declined to say if there was any increase or decrease in Special Branch officers protecting the PM after they made public complaints about working long hours. Some 30 Special Branch officers currently make up the PM’s security detail.

Dillon was questioned by reporters about the issue following yesterday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, which ended before the scheduled 4.30 tea break after the Opposition stormed out of Parliament in protest over a ruling by House Speaker Brigid Annisette-George in which she denied a motion for urgent debate by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Dillon expressed concern that the officers would have raised their concerns about their working hours to the media. He said the move was “unprecedented” and “something like that should not have been discussed in the open forum as it has been.” He said the officers had “avenues in which you can air your concerns and I am sure that the Head of Special Branch is one such area that you can talk with, to the Commissioner of Police and of course the Minister of National Security.

“Any discussion of issues surrounding the Prime Minister, there are ways in which it can be dealt with, definitely not the public domain,” he insisted.

Dillon declined to say whether the matter was brought to the PM’s attention before by the Special Branch head.

Asked if any action could be taken against the officers, Dillon said: “That is left up to the Commissioner of Police.”

Asked if the Special Branch continues to provide 24-hour personal protection for Rowley, Dillon said he preferred not to make any comment on that. But he added that Rowley “is and will continue to be very well protected by the state agencies.”

Dillon also said the presence of the Defence Force at the Prime Minister’s residence was nothing new. 

“The Defence Force has always been at the residence of the Prime Minister and continues to play an important role in the security of the PM and the President.”

Asked if the Special Branch was no longer providing security for the Prime Minister, Dillon said, “The Special Branch continues together with the Defence Force.”

In response to another question, Dillon denied being summoned to the PM’s residence yesterday for a meeting with Rowley. “No I was not called to the residence by the Prime Minister (but) I was at the residence with the Prime Minister this morning, yes I was.”

Dillon said all visits to the PM’s residence concern a number of issues, including his security, adding yesterday’s meeting discussed several issues relating to security. He declined comment on a claim that soldiers were yesterday asked to do duties for the PM that were normally done by Special Branch officers.

The search for missing Brazilian expatriate Odair Bezerra Lins took a turn for the worse when police found his pick-up truck abandoned in Siparia with blood inside on Thursday night.

South Western Division Task Force combed the forested area where Lins’ silver Mazda BT-50, registration TCT 5301, was recovered. Siparia CID, led by Sgt Garvin Hayne, was on patrol along Quinam Road when they spotted the pick-up truck parked in a lonely area. 

On searching, the officers found blood on the door. 

It was taken back to the Siparia CID office where it was being processed by investigators.

Up to late yesterday, Lins, 55, who stayed in an apartment on Coney Street, Gulf View, La Romaine, was yet the be found. 

He is an electrician at Brazilian firm Construtora OAS, which has been embroiled in a pay dispute with its retrenched workforce since the beginning of the year.

A report stated that he went to turn on a water pump at Mosquito Creek around 5.30 pm Wednesday but never returned home. A report was made to police after he did not report to work at the company’s Golconda base. A search was made throughout the mangroves along the creek, but without success. 

His fellow expatriates told the T&T Guardian on Thursday that some of them were previously threatened by the retrenched workers after the company failed to pay severance benefits. Several of them were also trying to flee the country, fearing for their safety.

Lins, nicknamed “Nigeo,” was described as five feet four inches tall, of light brown complexion, with black curly hair, clean shaven face, brown eyes and a broad nose. (KF)

All employees assigned to the Water Taxi Service hubs at Port-of-Spain and San Fernando are trained to assist people with disabilities.

This includes all customer service representatives, supervisors and personnel operating on board the vessel.

During last Monday’s Joint Select Committee (JSC) meeting, Sharda Ramlakhan, of the Consortium of Disability Organisations, called on the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NIDCO) and the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to upgrade and improve their services to better accommodate physically challenged people utilising those services.

Following Ramlakhan’s public call, NIDCO officials confirmed that their service had been designed to accommodate physically challenged people as wheelchairs had been provided to assist such persons to board the vessel and also disembark with ease.

Similarly, there were specially allocated places on the boat for these persons enabling them to easily access the washroom and other facilities.

Diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy when she was 27, Ramlakhan uses a motorised wheelchair.

During a visit to the Water Taxi Office, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, the Guardian heard that the employees were specially trained to assist disabled people and had been freely doing so whenever any such person presented themselves for a sailing.

One woman who was waiting to board the boat for the 7 am sailing recalled members of staff assisting a disabled woman to board the boat.

The onlooker said the woman had been seated in the wheelchair minutes after entering the terminal, following which she was processed and lifted over the initial threshold onto the ramp and then lowered onto the boat. The woman who declined to give her name said, “The staff managed but you could see they were struggling to lift the chair with the lady in it. But she got on the boat and came off the same way.”

Unable to speak about the shuttle service which is provided by the PTSC to ferry passengers into the cities of Port-of-Spain and San Fernando, the woman said she knew it was “hard” for physically challenged people to access this particular service, especially during peak hours.

“Someone has to assist them into the bus and when there is a crowd of people, it is hard for them to get help,” she said.

When Ramlakhan appeared before the JSC, she spoke of the need by physically challenged people for assistance to board both the bus and water taxi.

She alleged that it was not inclusive and should be re-engineered as “it is not an inclusive service, it does not promote inclusion of persons with disabilities. It treats persons with disabilities as objects as opposed to subjects.”

Declaring that it was a “grave concern and a human rights issue,” Ramlakhan urged both NIDCO and PTSC to review their operations to accommodate physically challenged people.

PTSC: We cater for them

Contacted yesterday, PTSC chairman Terrance Beepath confirmed that the ELDAMO Service catered specifically for physically challenged people.

In 2012, Government launched a new fleet of 24 specially equipped buses called the Elderly and Differently Abled Mobile (ELDAMO) Service.

Beepath said these buses were outfitted with a driver as well as a caregiver and that anyone requiring such a service could contact the PTSC and request a pick-up from their home to the intended destination.

However, he said, the time had come to speak with NIDCO so that the service could be made available for physically challenged people using the water taxi.

Adding that these buses were specially equipped with a mechanical lift for persons using wheelchairs, Beepath explained that because the fleet was small and there was a back-up of requests by persons wanting to be taken to the doctor or the grocery or pharmacy, the PTSC was seeking to expand the fleet in the coming months as it was a service that was heavily utilised by the disabled population.

Revealing that he had only yesterday written to the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services for financial assistance to expand the fleet by another 24 buses, Beepath said in this way they would be able to improve and increase the services being rendered to members of the disabled community.

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​The water taxi buses, which were purchased solely for the purpose of transporting commuters to and from the Water Taxi Terminals in Port-of-Spain and San Fernando, were designed for (short drops) urban operation and have a seating capacity of 32, with room for standing passengers. 

Purchased in 2008 from the Higer Bus Company Ltd of China, each bus has four emergency windows and two overhead emergency exits.

In 2008, the Water Taxi Service (WTS) was formally introduced by Government through Nidco, as an alternative and complementary mode of transport for citizens and visitors. The initiative, which identified the North-South Corridor (namely, Point Fortin to Diego Martin) sought to ease traffic congestion along major routes.

The water taxi buses make trips daily.

Determined to combat the spillover of guns, drugs and immigrants fleeing Venezuela, over 250 law enforcement officers locked down hot spot areas in San Fernando and Marabella yesterday.

The exercise included about 250 officers from the T&T Coast Guard, Air Guard, Defence Force, National Operations Centre, Canine Unit, Prisons Service as well as officers from the Central, South and South Western Divisional Task Force.

The exercise started around 2 am at Bayshore, Marabella, and along the old trainline where illegal guns and drugs were brought in. 

By 9 am, officers had moved to apartments in Ramsaran Street and then to Embacadere in San Fernando. More than a dozen foreign nationals were interviewed. They were made to show their passports to prove they were staying in Trinidad legally. Some of the foreigners did not speak English and hid from the media’s cameras. Two guns were also found in Embacadere. 

In an interview yesterday, Senior Supt Irwin Hackshaw said a total of 75 guns had already been removed from the streets since similar exercises began. 

“This exercise represents zero tolerance to all the criminals. Several people have already been arrested on various charges,” Hackshaw added.

He said the exercises were not only in relation to guns and illegal immigrants.

“As commander of the division I saw it fit to have a general exercise. Illegal firearms are coming in and we have to take into control this situation. All illegal ports of entry are being monitored and I am sure the Coast Guard is taking control of these ports. In the meantime we are doing our part on land.”

He added, “There are lots of illegal immigrants in the country and when we find them we will detain them.”

Shinneil Samuel of Embacadere said she welcomed the joint patrols. “It is a good thing because it makes us feel safer,” she said. 

Another resident said within recent times “certain elements” had been hiding out at Embacadere. “We called for more patrols and we are happy to see this,” they said.

Jacque Ashford said since Venezuela became embroiled in a social crisis, more foreigners had been flocking to Trinidad. Expressing sadness for the plight of the people, Ashford said Venezuelans should be allowed to stay in T&T. “Many are coming in search of greener pastures. We don’t know what the future holds for us so I have nothing against them coming here,” Ashford added.

Police said they would continue the exercises in the upcoming months.

As late as 8 pm on Thursday, when it seemed that tonight’s 16th annual steelband parade along Western Main Road, St James, would be cancelled due to a lack of funding, Port-of-Spain Mayor Kerron Valentine came through and saved the day. 

As he presented an award to Sharon Ramjohn, on behalf of 2016 WeBeat St James Live honoree the Kanhai family, the mayor announced that monies would be drawn down from the Mayor’s Fund to finance the parade, to be staged by the St James Community Improvement Committee (St James CIC) this evening at 7 pm.

Also contributing to the event is the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and The Arts, as well as a handful of corporate entities including ANSA McAL, Carib, RBC Royal Bank, Caribbean Bottlers, Nestle, NCBA, blink/bmobile, T&T Film Festival and Everybody’s Optical, as well as private citizens Marlene Goddard and Murchison Brown.

A number of steel orchestras had earlier assured the St James CIC that, with or without funding, they would perform tonight thereby not disappointing the thousands who throng to the western suburb of the nation’s capital annually for this event. These steelbands included Republic Bank Exodus, NHL Starlift, bpTT Renegades Youth Steel Orchestra, St James Tripolians, Brimblers, Old Tech and La Creole Pan Groove.

Other steelbands, mostly from west Port-of-Spain, invited by the St James CIC to participate in the parade include PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars, Valley Harps, Scrunters Pan Groove, Harvard Harps, Musical Gems, Rhapsody, and Arima Golden Symphony.

The parade is also expected to be joined by traditional Carnival characters, under the auspices of the National Carnivals Bands Association (NCBA) and D’Tunapuna Vibrations.

Thursday’s Honorees Night was attended by the mayor, councillor Wendell Stephens and other members of the PoS Corporation, WeBeat St James Live founder Earl Crosby, vice president Cecil Tomkin, former Pan Trinbago president Owen Serrette, NCBA chairman David Lopez, and former staff member in the Office of the Prime Minister Peter Kanhai.

Upon accepting the award on behalf of her family, Ramjohn stated that the iconic St James enterprise was started by her grandfather, the late Marshall Kanhai, an immigrant from India, 60 years ago.

There may be legal entities in this country engaged in conducting business with entities involved in terrorism activities.

This is according to information provided by the Financial Intelligence Unit of T&T (FIUTT) to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF.)

The information was published in the task force’s Mutual Evaluation Report of T&T, published this month.

The task force conducted an on-site visit to T&T from January 12 to 23, 2015.

The purpose of the visit was to provide a summary of the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism measures in place in T&T.

The task force also analysed the level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s 40 Recommendations and the level of effectiveness of T&T’s anti-money laundering systems. 

The last such report was produced in 2005.

T&T is currently undertaking its National Risk Assessment (NRA) in relation to money laundering and terrorist financing. 

According to the report, the large volume of currency declarations being reported to the FIUTT by the Customs and Excise Department coupled with the increasing number of reports the FIUTT has been receiving from the monetary value transaction service providers and the monetary value of cash seized by the Customs and Excise Division are indicators that significant amounts of monies are being moved across the border.

Improved compliance

While T&T has improved in terms of compliance with the FATF recommendations in 2005, it is still non-compliant in two areas.

In 2005 T&T’s Mutual Evaluation concluded that the country was compliant with one recommendation, largely compliant with six recommendations and partially compliant with 13 recommendations. 

Then, the country was non-compliant with 28 recommendations.

The most recent report shows that T&T is non-compliant on two recommendations pertaining to targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation and non-profit organisations.

The report noted that no legal authority had been identified relative to implementing and enforcing targeted financial sanctions and no measures have been adopted for monitoring and ensuring compliance by financial institutions with any laws governing this area.

It also noted that there were no laws requiring the Non-Profit Organisations (NPO) Sector to be subject to an anti-money laundering or countering terrorism financing regime.

The country was rated this year as partially compliant with 13 recommendations, largely compliant with 13 recommendations and compliant with 12 recommendations.

Inadequate anti-terrorism measures

The report said there did not appear to be a thorough appreciation of the risk of terrorism financing amongst the relevant authorities in the country.

It added that resources to effectively investigate and prosecute terrorism financing were inadequate.

“There is no comprehensive policy on the proliferation of financing of weapons of mass destruction and there is no adequate legislation on this issue.” 

The report also recommended that the framework for targeted sanctions related to the financing of terrorism needed to be significantly tightened up. 

“There are not adequate sanctions or prohibitions in respect of making funds or facilities available to designated persons and all the requirements for freezing funds are not covered in the Anti-Terrorism Act.” 

The report noted that a report of terrorism financing was submitted since 2013 and there was “no evidence to suggest that any actions had been taken against the individuals or entities mentioned in the report.”

It said there was no indication that terrorism financing was prioritized and properly investigated by law enforcement agencies as there had been no designation of entities or persons as terrorists, no assets restrained nor any arrests or convictions for terrorism financing offences. 

Money laundering not a priority for law enforcement

The report indicated that while T&T had robust legislation to gather financial intelligence and to investigate money laundering, terrorism financing and associated offences, there was a lack of priority in investigating these offences.

T&T has two main pieces of legislation to deal with these offences: the Proceeds of Crime Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The FIUTT has disseminated several intelligence reports to law enforcement agencies as part of its mandate. 

Three of these reports have led to the arrest and prosecution of five individuals for money laundering offences. 

However, the report observed that a large number of Suspicious Activity Reports received by the FIUTT are still awaiting analysis or have been filed for intelligence purposes.