Tag Archives: attorney General Anand Ramlogan

Mad Men with Big Stones

Posted on by
Master and Commander Far Side of the Ocean: Dr/Mr Hafizool Mohammed

Master and Commander Far Side of the Ocean: Dr/Mr Hafizool Mohammed

I chuckled when I heard about a man stoning the Parliament. I wasn’t the only one. And that should disturb us. Why? Not because I am likely to stone the Parliament myself; but because the idea of stoning this current Parliament elicits not outrage or concern from portions of the citizenry, but rather a tacit understanding of what could lead a man – mentally disturbed or not – to dry dry so pick up two stone and pelt the Parliament.

On a daily basis the country is protesting in small ways and big. The two largest protests we’ve had so far were the Section 34 march and the THA 12-Zero smack down. Trinbagonians of all levels of sanity are letting this government know that they are sick, tired and fed-up. Yet the government seems not to care. Is full steam ahead in Full Dotish mode!

Dr Indira Rampersad whose go to analysis these days for PP incompetence is race!

Dr Indira Rampersad whose go to analysis these days for PP incompetence is race!

You have Warner and Ramlogan blaming their losses not on incompetence, but race. You’ve got supporters of the government, like Indira Rampersad and Sat Maharaj propping up their incompetent and failed leaders by echoing the same race diatribes; and then you have supporters of Rampersad and Maharaj telling you to your face, don’t take them on when they talk race, you know how they stop? Well, actually, I don’t know how they stop. But I wish they would stop. I wish too that members of the Maha Sabha community would stop pretending that their leader isn’t talking race. Because the more silent you remain, the more it sounds like consent to me. Just saying…

I also wonder how Indira Rampersad, as a political analyst, can be taken seriously at her day job any time soon after that succinct piece of analysis two Monday’s ago; and whether the goodly doctor is still credible enough to teach courses in politics let alone grade examination scripts.

But Rampersad’s credibility issues paled in comparison to this week’s misstep. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Mr/Dr Hafizool Mohammed, Master and Commander, Far Side of the World. If you haven’t read his CV in Friday’s Trinidad Guardian, please find a copy now and avail yourselves. He’d make a killing on Kindle.

Here we have a gentleman whose resume seems more padded than a marginal seat ballot box. Mr Mohammed’s referrals are impeccable: one is dead; the other simply does not exist. His time at an American Military Academy is so flawless; there are no records of his presence. His work for NATO and the Pentagon so top secret that there is no proof. Why didn’t Her Majesty’s Secret Service not hire him instead of Daniel Craig?

Reshmi-Ramnarine-and-Tim-GopeesinghAnd this man of action is also an intellectual. A doctoral degree from an online, unaccredited University, and a thesis that quotes Wikipedia and Islamopedia liberally without even citing them as sources.

And you know the scary thing? This is typical, par for the course behaviour of the People’s Partnership. I remember John Sandy and Prakash Ramadhar in late 2010 heartily endorsing Reshmi Ramnarine’s appointment as SIA Director. When the Opposition did its job and opposed the appointment there was loud criticism. The accusation was Ms Ramnarine was being opposed for the job because she was a young, Indian woman. No government has proven to be more adept at waving the race card than this one. At every misstep and criticism they have raised the issue of race and been barely taken to task for it. The whole country fighting them down and jealous them based on ethnicity, not incompetence.

Within days of Sandy and Ramadhar’s endorsement we would learn that Ramnarine’s CV was doctored. She had no degree from UWI, she was in fact grossly underqualified for her job. Ms Ramnarine resigned and now lives and works under a new identity.

Omar Khan

Omar Khan

By June 2011, Omar Khan, who had been appointed as Chairman of T&TEC, was also under the microscope for doctored credentials. It appeared that Khan’s first degree in engineering from UWI and his MBA from the Arthur Lok Jack School were both false and he had acquired his engineering qualifications through a correspondence course. And in much the same way Khan wrote his way to an engineering degree; he wrote to tender his resignation, listing personal responsibilities as his reason.

In July of that same year website ttonline.org asked the question “Is ‘Dr’ Suruj Rambachan suruj in orange shirtReally a Quack?” raising issues about the credibility of the doctorate which Minister of Foreign Affairs Suruj Rambachan had acquired from an unaccredited university in Hawaii.

You don’t need to be an ace detective to start seeing the trend of falsified resumes, unaccredited universities, fake degrees, high paying jobs and friends and family of the People’s Partnership. New Politics!

Not me nah, I only meet the man one inno!

Not me nah, I only meet the man one inno!

In the case of every person I’ve named thus far their applications and credentials would have been vetted not by one, but several persons. Using Mr/Dr Mohammed, Master and Commander Far Side of the Ocean as an example: Winston Dookeran would have recommended him, then both the AG and the Prime Minister would have looked at his application and qualifications; then they would have sent on the name to the President. In short, neither Dookeran, Ramlogan, Persad-Bissessar nor the President (either Richards or Hamel-Smith) ever bothered to run a simple background check on Mohammed’s credentials. Or, maybe they were depending on the media and the citizenry to never ask or search and thereby get away with giving an unsuitable person a job he isn’t qualified for. It makes you wonder how many more unqualified hacks we have sitting in positions they have no qualifications for and will they too be unearthed.

It also makes you wonder about Presidential nominees and their qualifications. Two weeks away from nomination day and at the height of Carnival fever in the country neither the PP nor the PNM have announced their candidates. If Section 34’s proclamation is anything to go by, the Cabinet might use Machel Monday as a convenient time to hood wink the population. In fact, given that Budget 2013 was presented to us on a stage in the midst of a fete in Mid-Centre Mall, why not announce the Presidential nominee the same way. It would be in keeping with the style of governance of this lot.

And when you think about how this government operates, is almost as if they pelting big stone at the country for the last 32 months straight. So then, technically speaking, that homeless man last week was probably just practising self-defence.

We in Full Dotish Mode…Chupke Chupke!

About these ads

OPV dispute settled, but at what price?

Posted on by

The AG…..

The following article whose content is pasted after my preamble was taken from the Financial Times

Carola Hoyos gives an update on the OPV dispute and some of its background. You will remember that on October 28th the Trinidad Guardian reported that the AG had requested 1.3 billion dollars.

It is believed that the additional money, requested just barely a month after the 2013 Budget had been read was to settle the BAE OPV matter. It is believed too that the $5b that Warner was allocated in his national Security budget was also meant to be used to cover the OPV settlement.

November 14, 2012 9:46 am

BAE settles dispute with Trinidad

By Carola Hoyos

BAE Systems on Wednesday reached a settlement in its long-running dispute with Trinidad and Tobago over a cancelled offshore patrol boat order.

The settlement brings to a conclusion a disagreement that arose when Trinidad cancelled an order for the three boats following cost overruns and delays. The decision in 2010 came so late in the development phase of the contract that one of the three boats was ready to be delivered, prompting BAE to take a £100m charge.

Last year BAE was able to sell the boats to Brazil, tapping a new, lucrative naval market in a country looking to expand its defence presence, especially on its oil-rich coast line.

Even so, the settlement will come as a relief to BAE, which has been under pressure from investors since its planned tie-up with EADS was scuppered by political wrangling.

BAE said the settlement was “at an amount consistent with provisions held”.

Robert Stallard, analyst at RBC, said the deal should be seen as a positive development because it reduced the company’s political risk. He noted that by 2012 BAE had received about £130m as a working capital inflow from Brazil and had carried a trade liability of £125m in deferred income relative to the settlement.

“Today’s settlement is likely to be for £125m-£130m. There should be a net nil result in the working capital for the year as we understand Brazil has already paid for the ships,” he said in a note.

In 2009 BAE bought VT Group’s naval shipbuilding business after having formed a joint venture with the group. With it, BAE inherited a contract with Trinidad and Tobago, in which the government agreed to buy three offshore patrol vessels for £155m.

The order came in 2007 as BAE was finalising the joint venture with VT, combining the Portsmouth yard with those of BAE on the Clyde in Glasgow. At the time, the UK Ministry of Defence was pushing for such consolidation ahead of the expected drop in ship building orders. Now, with that decrease having materialised, BAE is reviewing whether it should close one of its yards.

The deal with Trinidad and Tobago went sour in 2010 after a new Trinidadian government said the boats were not built to their specification. However, Trinidad agreed BAE could begin to market the vessels to other countries, which it did successfully, finding Brazil as a buyer in 2011.

 

I guess we goodly citizens have to wait to hear what the final figure is. Listen for the spin that will somehow make this the PNM’s fault, because we know it’s not the Government’s and certainly not the AG’s fault.

 

De Vice Cyah Done!

Much Ado About Numbers

Posted on by

Protesters show their placards. Photos courtesy Andrea de Silva

;

It was all about the size and ethnic make up of the crowd yesterday. While de facto Prime Minister Jack Warner (oh, you mean you didn’t realise that he is the person speaking on behalf of the government for EVERYTHING? When last you heard from Kamla?) is quick to tell the media otherwise, it’s fairly obvious, just from the type of responses he has given that the size of yesterday’s march and who was in it was important. And the larger and more representative of every demographic of this country the marches get, the more the PP Government will deny publicly what the marches mean. What makes this ironic is that back in 2010 Jack and Kamla lead much smaller protests for issues like the rapid rail transport sytem that was likely to displace farmers. Back then the size and ethnic make up of the crowd didn’t matter, what mattered was that citizens, Trinbagonians were being displaced by the government.

On Friday, thousands and thousands of Trinbagonians took to the streets to voice their displeasure over Section 34 and the bungling incompetence of the PP Government. Long before the crowd started marching along the route there were estimates being given out online. A person calling himself Allan Karim, the name of a known UNC blogger claimed a crowd of 800. The FB page for Team UNC-COP claimed 1000. At around that time the crowd was easily double that and I was standing in Woodford square with a group of like minded and right thinking citizens discussing how this government for all its new politics talk, was using the usual racist propaganda scare tactics to corral it’s voter base. Little did I know how my points would be underscored for me later.

The crowd coming from Wrightson Road side around the twin Towers heading to meet the Woodford Square posse. Photo taken by Andre de Silva.Just as the crowd was getting ready to leave Woodford Square the National Security helicopter showed up, and it stayed with the march the entire time. Part of what the helicopter was there to do was assess the size of the crowd, and interestingly enough some of these aerial photographs, that look like they were taken from one of the Twin Towers or by National Security personnel would eventually end up in the hands of UNC bloggers. The photographs – taken around 1pm, when one group of marchers was assembling on the Promenade having made it’s way from Wrightson Road to the Promenade to await the procession that was coming from Woodford Square – was used to dispute claims of over 20,000 people. There are photographs aplenty from Andrea De Silva to support my claim. Interestingly enough the figure of 20,000 was given by the police. And that figure only started circulating at around 3pm. It’s unfortunate that the UNC blogger’s pic don’t have a time stamp that I can see so I could corroborate times.

In any case, worried over the impact that a growing number of protesters would have on the psyche of the country, last night came this from TEAM UNC-COP:

**** Breaking News: EXPOSED! PNM, MEDIA, POLICE wrong on PNM March crowd! Irrefutable Proof! *****
Fellow Citizens: we expose the PNM-Media conspiracy and prove they are working in tandem against the Govt. The Police are, at best, clumsy oafs, poohar, backward, using flawed techniques for crowd estimates. We hate to embarrass the Police but we hope the Commissioner is shown this – by Minister Warner, and is convinced to train a few of his people in crowd estimation.

It’s very simple but the PNM is illiterate and cannot help defrauding the people; the Media is slothful, lazy, and against the PP govt. Their wildly inaccurate crowd estimates expose the media for what they are: simpletons, backward, illiterate, very low standard of journalism, spiteful, north-centric, a bunch of 3rd world pretenders who try to convince the people they are “neutral” and should be allowed a free rein, above all else they must not be criticized. And, if you think we are attacking you: bingo, you got one right! We are attacking you for your woefully horrible standard of journalism, and you are free to prove us wrong. If you do, we will retract everything and praise you, advocating strongly for 50% raise for all media people in T&T! Seriously.

The Racist Letter submitted by Sunil Ranjitsingh to Jyoti Communications that he claims a PNM supporter handed to him.And if this attack on the Police and Media wasn’t enough, then came the accusations that the PNM was distributing racist pamphlets in Woodford Square. According to Sunil Ramjitsingh in a letter to Jyoti Communications, the website responsible for all of Kamla’s PR:
Dear News Editors,
>; I am writing in my personal capacity to bring to your attention the attached document, which document was being distributed at the Woodford Square this afternoon during the assembly for the Democracy March.
>; I walked through the square myself in the company of one of my colleagues. A tall woman in a red t-shirt handed my colleague this flyer and when I reached out for one she was hesitant but then she eventually, reluctantly handed me one.
>; If you read it, you will see that the flyer contains very nasty
racial content. I then understood why the woman did not hesitate to give my colleague but was reluctant to give me a copy – my colleague was of African descent and I, of course, am of East Indian descent.
>;
>; Respectfully Submitted,
>; Sunil Ramjitsingh
What was curious about Ranjitsingh’s letter is this….during the 2010 Election a similar letter was distributed in various parts of Trinidad. The point of the letter then, as it is now, is to stir racist sentiment. Ranjitsingh’s choice of medium is curious. Jyoti Communications is Kamla’s blog. Ranjitsingh is a known UNC activist, he ran for a position in the internal elections earlier this year. So, was the purpose of his story in Kamla’s blogpost to inform the wider population or to inform the party faithful? I was at the Square, and saw no one distributing this flyer. In fact the only flyers I got was from the Highway Re-Route Movement. If we go with Ranjitsingh’s story, then because I look african, I should have received a flyer. And I was in that Square from 11:45 until we moved onto the streets. Funny how no one ever gives me useful flyers.
The FB group TEAM UNC-COP also spent quite a bit of time yesterday race-mongering. In Sheila Rampersad’s account of yesterday’s march, that was careful to only focus on the trivial, the one thing serious issue she managed to note was a racist comment by a man on Frederick Street, who she reports as saying: A man speaking loudly to two women at the bottom of Frederick Street returned the country to its worst ethos: “This country! A Hindu demon leading this country! Is Kali puja!”
Thankfully, the women refused to respond.
The administrators of TEAM UNC-COP took this quote and expanded on it and on their wall claimed that the PNM had said it without any evidence of such from Sheila Rampersad’s column:

EVIL RACIST PNM PROPAGANDA! “A Hindu demon leading this country! Is Kali puja”
Citizens of T&T – beware of the evil disgusting messages coming from the desperate PNM. And is this encouraged by Ramesh lawrence Maharaj, Abduallah, OWTU, and the PNM accomplices? This is typical of the PNM modus operandi. Divide and Rule. Decent patriotic Trinis must condemn the PNM or else our beloved and beautiful T&T will descend into a zombie 4th world hell-hole. The PNM will like nothing better than that since that’s their natural environment, they love it that way.

In the last 24 hours the PP government have made certain thing undoubetedly clear.

  1. They aren’t practising any new politics since their policy is obviously to continue to lie to the electorate; ignore the complaints of the population; and to use scaremongering and racism as a tactic of divide and rule.
  2. They have no plans or policies beyond Position Hulsie X aka “We Not Moving”. There is no thrust to run a country or manage a budget. the only thrust is to line pockets.
  3. Their default position is always going to be Blame the PNM and Black People Hate we and trying to Oppress We.

Once you keep these things in mind, it’s pretty much easy to manoeuvre from here.

In moving forward the the other political parties….and by that I refer to the PNM and MSJ….will:

  • Continue to rally public support to the point where the financiers of the current government become concerned about their investment and put pressure on Kamla.
  • Continue to build develop their policies and party’s vision for the future because and present a slate of candidates that the thinking electorate will believe in.

Let’s face it. UNC/COP has squandered all of its political currency. As soon as any one of their ministers speak the electorate starts looking for the lie. The PNM faithful have returned home, it’s the swing voters or fence sitters that The Keith has to reach out to. The MSJ will now have to consider its voter base and reach out to undecideds in PNM and UNC/COP seats. If you ask me, short of a massive rigging that eclipses S34 or Prakash Ramadhar and the rest of the Section 34 Gang of Thieves managing to hoodwink the population into Proportional Representation (and that campaign coming, watch and see), the UNC has corrupted its way out of a chance at election 2015. Kamla may well have out-Basdeoed De Bas!

De Vice Cyah Done!

;

I Out On De Road: Section 34 Style!

Posted on by

No, not lemmings, just right thinking Trinbagonians defending their democracy!

 

I’m marching today. And happily so. When I marched weeks ago I was told by people who consider themselves thinkers, humanists and buddhists that to march meant I was Pro PNM…..and even better, marching meant I was a lemming. If Rowley was so against Section 34 why he vote for it. At that point in time no one was willing to listen to the details of the story. That Cabinet had promised to implement certain conditions and further that the early proclamation was a breach of trust.

Today, as more and more details of the section 34 issue has been revealed and more and more people realise the extent of the conspiracy perpetrated against the country all of a sudden marching has become the fashionable thing. The people who wanted to make this about Keith Rowley and the PNM a few weeks ago are going to be out on the street en masse today because that’s how bandwagonists function. They diss an action that they are not in favour of in its early phases and then when they see the direction the wind shifts in all of a sudden their intellect kicks in and they find a plausible reason for joining and become even louder and more vociferous than the original members of a movement. It’s all good, once they pulling their weight. I guess the Lemmings have company today.

But there are people who are still detractors to the march. We’ve seen the government throw up distraction after distraction where Section 34 is concerned. Pre-Budget Rallies, Post-Budget Rallies, random attacks on the media from Jack Warner and Jamal Mohammed, Warner trying to block crime statistics….all in an effort to distract the electorate from the issue of Section 34 and what it means that an entire Cabinet conspired to mislead the Parliament….and now pretending they did nothing wrong.

Last night there was a last ditch effort on the part of UNC apologists. People arguing that the issue has already aired publicly, so let’s move on. Well neither Kamla nor the AG have answered my questions on this matter satisfactorily so I can’t move on. And apparently the launch of TSTT’s 4G that was meant to thin out the protest crowds has been put off as well. So it’s just lemmings in Woodford Square at noon today.

Another argument is that this March today is about causing political destabilisation….uhhh….YES….we don’t trust the Government. No electorate should have to be saddled with a Government it doesn’t trust, and to argue that we must put up with an untrustworthy government for five years is to play smart with foolishness. That’s why it’s called a democracy….we have the right to show our displeasure and I am going to show it.

And Section 34 isn’t the only reason. There are at least a hundred…but let me refresh your memory with a few reason why I will be out on the road.

1. Reshmi

2. Gopaul

3. Mary King

4. Cheryl Miller

5. Nizam Mohammed

6. Dwayne Gibbs

7. Gary Griffith

8. The Crop Duster

9. Raids on TV6, Newsday, Crime Watch and attacks on Asha Javeed and Denyse Renne

10. Chandresh Sharma’s London Taxi fare

11. Shoppin Toppin and Fuad Card!

12. The Soca Warriors $$$$

13. Jack as a Minister, Jack as a member of the National Security Council, Jack as Minister of National Security (this alone is a march in itself)

14. The bungling incompetence of the AG

15. Silk Gate

16. The dismantling of all of our border and coastal surveillance,

17. the deployment of national security helicopters as air taxis for the PM and her friends and family.

18. Vidwattie Newton

19. Janice Thomas/Marcia/Sasha Mohammed

20. The mess that is healthcare

21. The mess that is education

22. Fucking up our energy sector

23. Three massive budgets that have put us into deficit and saddling us with a debt my grandchildren will be paying.

24. Insulting our Caricom Neighbours with the ATM statement

25. Kamla being the most incompetent and ineffective, self absorbed, nepotistic and corrupt leader this Caribbean has ever seen.

 

I could go on for days…but I’ll stop there. See you on the road!

 

De Vice Cyah Done!

 

100 Missteps in 2.5 years by Xavi Silva

Posted on by

I had to share this list with you guys. FB blogger Xavi Silva tagged me in this post and I thought maybe you’d want to take a read and add whatever you think is missing:

2 1/2 years 100 bad decisions here is our government:

1) Reshmi
2) Sasha
3) Jack multiple FIFA bribery scandals(Bin Hamman, TTFF, Haiti)
4) Vasant Cayanne
5) Farmers without crops
6) A RedBull Flugtag Plane for 900k to replace a blimp sold for 50k how? What? Why?
7) Diversification what how where?
8) SOE
9) Assassination Plot
10) NP friends and family contract
11) Anand proposing to monitor social media and emails
12) Raiding media houses for sources
13) Verna locking up Cheryl Miller
14) Seizing guns/drugs locking up nobody and saying we on top of crime!
15) Frequent flyer trips with no solid results
16) 20% voter turnout in local elections called a success!
17) 0% Economic growth for 3 years!
18) Jack the unlimited bank account!
19) Dismissing the Transparency International Corruption Report
20) Vetoing the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit(FIU)
21) 2.5 million for 3 farmers to cut the Airport grass(I in the wrong field who have a whacker?)
22) Anand and Kamla say SILK wrong but still wearing them own.
23) Gift wrapping oil for India
24) Alutrint board appointed something smelting bad.
25) How come race talk so prevalent now? It was ever so?
26) Paid bloggers sound off how the Blackberry wokking?
27) What going on with the probe on Ish, Steve and Jack AG? We ever hearing that again?
28) Wait Verna doin the Back Peddle dance and welcoming back Ms. Miller but I thought she commit her?
29) so 48 million barrels is the answer to we economic problems? Well Barbados 2.5 billion find will make them richer than Apple Corp then!
30) Why Anand eh lock up Caulder Hart yet? That is a nex probe up somebody eh hem!
31) Protests by TCL and Unions watch out for a SOE jus now
32) Sunway! Whichway? Caulder Hart Way $300 million quarrying contract thanks Kamla we always knew your “Hart” was good.
33) Ag Superintendent Bisnath Maharaj is the new SSA director that name sounding familiar hmmm.
34) Omar Khan resign cause he unqualified! Why this sounding familiar?
35) “I hired my sister with taxpayer dollars that’s good family values” say it frequently an wine!
36) Before elections: “I will never move into the PM’s residence” After elections: “Put the elevator from the HDC building in my bedroom”
38) Aye! How I could forget Sat! Anybody know if he still seeing pantylines? He still like black people?
39) COP members say they fed up of the poor governance an they not settling so! COP have a backbone then?
40) Somebody pay me TT$1.5 million to paint a small building nah gosh boy look how much people getting handouts.
41) Oil Sands/Highway Re-Route
42) All files on Jack, Ish an Steve stolen from the SIA
43) Giving India a stake hold in Petrotrin
44) Hiring workers from China to pick coconuts
45) New CONCACAF president slams Warner for financial impropriety
46) Dwayne Gibbs find no evidence against Warner so the DPP can’t prosecute that’s a shocker…
47) Reducing NIS pensioners to $1,000 per month and less in some cases.
48) The purposeful allowing of taxpayer dollars going to waste from assets e.g. The Brian Lara stadium and the 4 water taxi’s simply because it was a PNM one.
49) Jack National Security? How?
50) Why no consultation on the SEA curriculum change?

51) Jack has no authority to command the armed forces and police
52) Why were environmentalists consulted on the destruction of the turtles nest?
53) Why is the gov’t considering a Tar Sands Mine?
54) New Central Bank Governor was on India trip too hmmm guess he real “independent”
55) Property Tax on or off on or off?
56) T&T Embassy, Washington, DC
Veterinarian, turned diplomat, Dr. Neil Parsan, nephew of Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma, has been using millions of dollars of taxpayers money to transform the Trinidad and Tobago Embassy in Washington to capture a piece of the “sunlit Caribbean.”
57) How much to renovate the US embassy here again??
58) Bobol at NLCB
59) Bobol at EMA Staff quitting and workers wearing red to protest!
60) New Traffic plan destroying business in St. James.
61) Four members of the Estate Management Business Development Company Ltd (EMBD) resigned from the board after raising concerns over transactions involving senior company officials.
62) Mt. Hope storing cancer patients tissue in water containers.
63) Why did Jack influence the firing of the COP and deputy COP?
64) How come exactly 50 to be released for our 50th Independence? 50 no more no less!
65) Flags that not really flags just modified 90 degrees.
66) Gov’t official under FIU probe ah wonder who hmmmm,
67) Sect. 34 sounds like a horror movie only worse.
68) The National Security helicopters is the new shopping car.
69) Shaq get $10 million to help crime go up!
70) Machel make more money that the T&T economy thanks Kamla!
71) Keshorngate everybody get even if yuh finish second to last. Oh wait Nijsane eh get nuttin.
72) Partap drunk nuff said…
73) Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reports suspicious activity in the amount of $500 million from Jan to Jun 2012
74) But wait crime back up I thought the SOE fix that? Where Steven Williams two crime plans? And Jack phantom one?
75) 21 workers responsible for the regularization of 4,500 cane farmers fired Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj denied such claimed. Unions have letters for all 21.
76) Wait we still giving out laptops to schools when the one laptop per child experiment proved no marked increase in test scores?
77) I feel iPads for all MP’s will fix all the nation problems.
78) Why the discrepancies in the auditor general report? http://www.auditorgeneral.gov.tt/documentlibrary/downloads/9/Vol%20%204%20-%20AG%20REPORT%202011.pdf
79) Jack new crime plan to outline how people dress…
80) How did we achieve developed country status in a negative economy again?
81) AUSTERITY MEASURES!
82) 50 criminals to be released coinciding with 50th Anniversary Independence.
83) Hubert Volney became the fall guy for Anand Ramlogan.
84) Pre-Budget Rally!
85) Post Budget Rally!
86) Attiba Phillips pay $1,335. to a taxi from his home to Mid Centre Mall in Chaguanas sample eh it have plenty more.
87) No drill in a major hospital that is all.
88) Jack Warner begins another job program in place of proper economic development ala color me orange, hoop of life.
89) The DPP states that that Section 34 “cannot stand on its own without absurdity” http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Breaking-News—Gaspard-Breaks-Silence-169487316.html
90) The AG, PM continue the rash of lawsuits in place of debating with the AG proudly compiling a list of those he has sued.
91) $1.3 billion requested for arbitration with BAE for the OPV’s
92) Reshmi! No wait Reshmi mommy and Anand Ramlogan creating a position of Clerk IV that does not exist.
93) The new tool to attack the opposition is race! Everybody saying they was racially discriminated even Jack say Rowley racial cause he focusing on Anand but Anand doing poor I think.
94) The Minister of Communications show his inferiority complex on paper writing claiming bias against reporters and finally the head of an independent news agency and oh yeah using racial slurs in referring to himself as a “Muslim Coolie”
95) The ink on the 2012/2013 budget still wet and the Ministry of Works done want to borrow $2.7 billion! Who say massive debt and IMF?!
96) Massive hirings an firings at our embassies overseas that bound to happen less attention http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/_I_will_take_you_to_the_PM_-176132371.html
97) Paid bloggers being recruited the usual suspects all there slithering around.
98) The same NAMDEVCO that giving Reshmi mommy a fake position fire the whole board real bachannal Among them are irregular hiring practices that have landed five board members before the Integrity Commission.
99) How come people so silent about how FIFA stop funding Trinidad & Tobago? Must be how Jack Warner still interfering in FIFA business when that was the condition of his being fired/resigning(same difference) that he dont interfer?!! http://www.wired868.com/2012/10/06/warners-controversial-letter-to-sport-minister-anil-roberts/
100) After all the Section 34 bachannal Anand still ent remove serious fraud from the statute of limitations look at that.

The Motion of Censure against the AG

Posted on by

Tomorrow our Parliament will see the Opposition bring a motion of  censure against the AG, Anand Ramlogan. The Opposition is charging that the AG was part of the Cabinet that promised to not enact the Bill before all measures were put in place and was also part of the Cabinet that then ignored these measures and facilitated the early…and secretive…proclamation of 5 sections of the Act one of which created an Amnesty for Ish and Steve Galbaransingh. As you well know, Ish, Steve and about 13 other people are facing charges of corruption and bid rigging over the billion-dollar Piarco Airport. They are currently seeking legal action against the repeal of the Indicatable Offences Act…the law that holds Section 34 in it. The following is the actual petition submitted by the Leader of the Opposition:
Motion:
1. WHEREAS Section 76(2) of the Constitution specifies “that the Attorney General shall, subject to
section 79, be responsible for the administration of legal affairs in Trinidad and Tobago and legal proceedings for
and against the Sta

te”;
AND WHEREAS the Attorney General participated in the presentation to Parliament of the
Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Bill 2011 which contained a clause that created
an amnesty for certain legal proceedings [referred to as Section 34];
AND WHEREAS the Attorney General had knowledge of and supported the Government’s
solemn undertaking to Parliament that no part of the Bill would be brought into force until such
time as all supporting rules, administrative and physical infrastructure were in place and
stakeholders consulted;
AND WHEREAS in the absence of the discharge of the said undertakings, the Attorney
General had knowledge of and/or involvement in the unexpected proclamation of Section 34,
thereby prematurely bringing into force an amnesty with consequences for certain legal
proceedings involving certain persons;
AND WHEREAS earlier, the Attorney General made certain decisions in an extradition matter
involving those said certain persons;
AND WHEREAS as a consequence of this series of developments there is widespread unease,
anger, disappointment and a general sense of loss of confidence in the Attorney General among a
large cross-section of the national population;
AND WHEREAS the Attorney General has accepted no responsibility for the improper
discharge of his constitutional duties:
BE IT RESOLVED that this Honourable House express its strongest disapproval of the
flagrant breach of Parliamentary trust by the Attorney General’s involvement in the premature
proclamation of Section 34;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Honourable House express its loss of
confidence in the Attorney General and call on the Prime Minister to immediately relieve him of
the portfolio of Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago.

Show me yuh &&&&&&&!.

Posted on by

When Kamla made Anand Ramlogan a Senator and swore him in as Attorney General, I asked my friends in the legal fraternity, he bright? He capable? You see, I didn’t know anything about Ramlogan beyond his column in the Guardian. I knew that he had positioned himself as a champion of the people in that column, but what the column really did was advocate against the oppression of Indians. Ramlogan, then, wrote many interesting and pointed articles about how marginalised Indians were under the PNM. His views had merit, but the balance in his analysis left much to be desired. However, in the legal sphere I had never heard his name be called regularly and for high profile cases. In short, I was very unaware of how skilled an AG he had the potential, if any, to be.

So I waited. I gave this government almost 8 months to show their colours before I began criticising them. In that 8-month period Ramlogan promised that he was going to bring charges against  Manning and Calder Hart and make them accountable for the mismanagement that happened at UDECOTT. Then he began his hunt. The most memorable thing about Ramlogan’s tenure in that first 8 months was  his inability to recognise Grand Pianos. From that moment the AG began to take on the image of the buffoon. I immediately started seeing him as a Naipaul hero. Foolish, uncomfortable in his own skin, but doggedly persistent.

Between then and now Ramlogan has done little to distinguish himself in the legal fraternity beyond award himself silk, and deliver so many pre-action protocol letters to Opposition and Media Houses that the AGs Office seems like a CEPEP for Lawyers.  In between those activities he was busy defending the State of Emergency, spent several nights on television acting the fool, got put in his place by Dominic Kallipersad, supported and repeated John Sandy’s comment that all murders were being perpetrated by young black men from single parent homes and yeah…firing the legal team that had been very successful in the Ish and steve Extradition Case. If you beginning to notice that Calder Hart and Manning fell off his radar, don’t be worried. He eventually took out a law suit against Calder Hart in his private capacity because he really doesn’t have any evidence to link Hart to corruption, just evidence that Hart mismanaged a state agency. And given Ramlogan’s tenure in office, mismanagement of office is par for the course with the politicians and state board members we getting these days.

Under this AG and Government the image of the legal fraternity taking steady blows. Lawyers appear corrupt, unethical, inefficient and downright foolish. But don’t say that to their faces. They get upset and accuse you of lashing out and being stupid. It may be that too many lawyers are currently benefitting from the free for all troughing that this Government is allowing. We have two CoE’s running until 2013 and several legal firms stand to benefit from them. we are looking at millions of dollars in legal fees for open and shut cases.

It seems under this AG that litigation is being used punitively. If a story is published in the newspaper that paints the government in a bad light, faster than you can type a by line the AG has issued a pre-action protocol letter. Get up in Parliament and ask a reasonable question like “Why did you fire the very successful prosecution team that was working on the Ish and Steve case?” and yes…you guessed it….pre-action protocol letter.

But of late it is rumoured that the AG is linked to a sexual assault case of a prominent Senior Govt Official. And last week in Parliament he decided to sue the THA for undertaking a BOLT project….an act that was clearly done to terrorise the THA for the upcoming elections in that organisation and to paint Orville London (THA Chief Secretary) and Anselm London (Secretary of Finance) as corrupt mismanagers of funding. Only to have said legal action blow up in his face when it was revealed that Timothy Hamel-Smith gave THA the greenlight on the project. The AG’s profound response on the matter was, “Duhhhhh, I didn’t know”.

This man is abusing the power of his office. You telling me Ramlogan couldnt have asked a few questions before lashing out at the THA…but then again…the whole point of his tirade was to put the THA on the offensive and attack them…attack people’s reputation and undermine Tobagonians….all for political mileage.

In all of this I haven’t yet mentioned Section 34…..you know why? That’s the big one….the mark on that aint even start to buss yet. And I feel when it start to buss so, people will cyah take it.

De Vice Cyah Done!

Compare and Contrast : A Rally Go Round!

Posted on by

Budget Matikor programme. Photo E. Pantomime

I from Central….Couva North. Basdeo Panday Country. I from a constituency where if Panday sneeze, 15, 000 does show up to hand him a handkerchief and ask, “Yuh alright, Boss?” Is so Couva North stop. We did real like Panday. So when after 3pm on a Saturday evening in the heart of Chaguanas I could breeze down the highway and find a park and stroll into Mid Centre Mall Carpark for a  Budget Maticor know is water more than flour and like they aint put enough dhal in the loya!

Crowd and Venue

The thickest the crowd ever got. Photos by E. Pantomime

The edges of the crowd and how the rest of the carpark looked.

The other side of the stage. That camera rig isn’t cheap to rent.

Crowd size I know is important to a lot of people who currently observing the political situation because it will help to tell us where the electorate’s head is at…so let me begin by describing yesterday’s lay out. The UNC used the part of the Mid Centre Carpark that is at the back of the mall and Hi Lo. The main stage for the MPs was at the eastern exit, the stage for performers was behind Marios. It was two massive dome stages, the kind HD normally uses for Machel Monday. Two of those in the Mid-Center Car Park takes up a lot of room. Couple those two stages with another smaller stage for their control crew and media cameras; and two more small stages for camera men and equipment and you are beginning to get an idea of how contained the space was for the event. Then along the fence area were food stalls and then on the end that is normally the main entrance to that car park where the security booth is were the portable toilets. My point is, that you can’t think of the entire eastern car-park as free and open because there were a lot of things crammed into the space…..the only thing not crammed in was people. Even with all of those stages, stalls and booths in there the space could have held a crowd of 20,000 and that would have made it difficult to move. Movement yesterday was never difficult. Only in front of the actually stage was the crowd thick…but not so thick that you couldn’t walk through and make your way to the front and take pictures. There were TOP supporters, brown band maxi taxis from the south heartland, Collin Partap had a flag crew there, as did the AG, and Ramona Ramdial. The bussed in CEPEP crews were pretty obvious.

Giveaways for the crowd…

When you consider the size of the mandate this government holds; when you consider the size of its support base; the resources it put out yesterday and all week long you get confused. Kamla announced since last Sunday that she holding a Pre-Budget Rally. There were countless radio ads for an entire week. Across FB you had Ministers using their walls to rally people, Surujrattan Rambachan and Anand Ramlogan’s walls were the ones I noted. Even COP councillors got in on the action promoting Budget Matikor. I expected to see the crowds Warner boasted about. 30-40,000. At a generous guess I’d say the crowd was about 13,000 at its peak.  And in all likelihood it was less than that. Later on that evening when i went to Price Plaza just a stone’s throw away from Mid Centre, that mall’s carpark and business places had more people going about their month-end business than Budget Matikor. Not even the neighbours on my street, who can easily be described as UNC Die Hards bothered to attend the rally.

Now this can be interpreted in multiple ways: the have complete faith in their government, or they have become disenchanted…..make of that what you will.

Where for me things got exciting is as usual the dynamics on the stage and the content of the speeches.

IT was pure UNC attack mode with Kamla warning about a gathering storm, saying the lines are drawn and telling the crowd they know who the enemy is. She reminded me of Capildeo asking the DLP to attack the PNM in the 1961 elections. We going good in this place!

You had Suruj Rambachan further extending the dependency syndrome that the UNC deplored 2 years ago by announcing 6000 jobs in short term programmes coming up. This seems to be their way of shoring up votes for THA and Local Government Elections. So if you thought the 10 Days Mania was something specific to PNM or Afro-creole people….think again. UNC pushing the 10-Days mentality hard….change? No, EXCHANGE!

Marlene Coudray got dragged up onto the stage too. And it was a painful thing to see. Coudray’s speech delivery was heart rending. There was no pep, no heart, no belief in her hype even. She seemed to be a woman still deep in mourning. And to have dragged a woman who has recently lost a child in such a way out this weekend to simply say to the crowd that Gender will be bringing new programmes onstream shows you just how insensitive and manic this government has become. The PM could have made that announcement herself and left Coudray to mourn in dignity. But this is a Government that will send 5 men to sit on television and gossip like vicious, bitter women about Rowley’s parking habits, and to attack Asha Javeed.

The AG was brought on to bark and growl….and Anand has effectively become the UNC’s version of a rottweiller. He yelled at the crowd that he not moving, not leaving. Said again and again that Rowley was a liar….but never once did he actually touch Section 34, the time line and his role in piloting the Bill. He went on to list all of the people he will be taking out lawsuits against….and I am still waiting to find out if we have benefitted from any of his lawsuits to date? Any? Has anyone been charged? Made to serve jail time?

Moonilal, announced as a man with more degrees as Rowley, then came on stage to prove just how dunce he really is. Within mere minutes of coming onstage Moonilal went on to state that Rowley got no signatures on his petition and handed the ag President a bag of paper. I was willing to forgive that lie on the basis og politicking….then Moonilal decided to play the ass with national history….a feature with this government. A people so insecure about their position and heritage here that they have to lie and re-invent history. Moonilal told the audience that Adrian Cola Rienzi founded the OWTU….not quite Mooni. Cola was its first sitting president when Butler had to go into hiding to avoid arrest. Butler still is and will always be the founder of that Union. But you see, when you don’t know, and you drunk in a fete, you will listen and applaud anything without questioning it. And that’s the kind of voter base this party is encouraging. Change? EXCHANGE!

After Moonilal we had speeches from Ramadhar, who spent time talking about Section 34 and its fallout in code and then exhaling with relief and sitting down after warning us to not repeat 1990. Too late Prakash…and your speeches at these rallies don’t actually constitute new politics. You have failed. Go to the back of the class.

In the wake of Ramadhar we had three asses follow: Ahsworth, NJAC and Warner. Their specific purpose was to recite Psalms 23, remind the audience that no murders had taken place in Morvant/Laventille for 20 days  (until last night) and that better days are coming. Tedium and boredom.

Then came DJ Larry Howai, the person I had shown up to hear…..not the conch shells and the free vuvuzelas that were handed out. And Howai’s comments were mundane at best: improved healthcare, education, lower food prices, make groceries more affordable and help people have more money to spend in groceries. No details on how these things are going to be improved or whether money spent on these areas last year were well spent. After Howai’s speech I am convinced that the thrust of Monday’s Budget will be to distract the population with focussing on decreased food prices by November 15th, and there may well be a couple stings in its tail. So look out for what may happen to gas subsidies, utility rates and the property tax.

The highlight of the evening was the PMs announcement of No Vat on food items….and my brain went fuzzy for a minute because under the PNM  between 2002 – 2007 VAT was removed from many food items. The list goes:

CONSUMER ITEMS THAT CARRY NO VAT • unprocessed food of a kind used for human consumption; • rice; • flour; • milk in any form, including processed and tinned milk; • margarine; • bread; • baby formulas and baby milk substitutes. • cheese and curd; • corned beef; • curry; • fresh butter; • peanut butter; • table salt; • salted butter; • tinned sardines; • smoked herring; • toilet paper; • yeast; • baking powder; • pasta, whether or not cooked or stuffed (with meat or other substances) or otherwise prepared, such as spaghetti, macaroni, noodles, lasagna, gnocchi, ravioli and cannelloni; • cane sugar; • cocoa powder, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter; • coffee; • mauby; • orange juice; • Herring; • Tuna; • Mackerel; • Ghee; • soya-bean oil; •) maize (corn) oil and its fractions; • sesame oil and its fractions; • chicken sausage, canned; • salami sausages; • icing sugar; • preparations of malt extract; • corn flakes; • biscuits, unsweetened; • grapefruit juice; • vanilla essence; • soy sauce; • tomato ketchup; • prepared mustard; • mineral water; • ordinary natural water; • aerated beverages; • orange drink; • grapefruit drink; and • vinegar

So then on what items is Persad-Bissessar’s government removing VAT on?

Her most desperate attempt at attacking Rowley last night was in the form of a cheque that was signed by Duprey to the PNM for party financing. The link that our Silkened PM fails to make with her cheque revelation is this….Rowley links the cheque on May 18th from Steve Ferguson to Section 34….can the PM show how the PNM when in Government colluded to free criminals? Change? This Section 34 issue is even worse than Exchange!

In summation Budget Matikor was a real let down. The familiar refrain of Blame the PNM, and anything but the PNM, and Make Sure and Don’t Vote Back the PNM was the message of the day. This wasn’t about the Budget…it’s not about food prices. It was entirely about attacking the PNM, pandering to their voter base and trying to distract from the crime of Section 34, the declining economy and the sting that is coming in this Budget’s tail. Oh, and it was about attacking the PNM, just in case you missed it in all the previous speeches!

At the end of the day what the PM and her Cabinet assured us of yesterday is that she is no longer listening to the people, she’s too busy drinking her Kool Aid mixed with Vodka!

De Vice Cyah Done

Who is Kamla Sozier?????

Posted on by

Who is Keyser Soze? The movie The Usual Suspects tells the story of a crime. It’s key feature is a long convoluted series of events, with a confusing story and timeline, and so many players that makes it hard for you to figure out who the criminal is. Everything hinges on whether you believe the character telling the story: a criminal himself and the lone survivor of a drug deal gone sour.

The crime we are dealing with is legislation gone sour and 18 days later nothing adds up except the accounts ledgers for pre-Budget Rallies.

Bear with me as I try to retrace some steps. On Sunday September 9th, the Guardian prints a story that says “Ish and Steve” are going to walk free based on a law that was proclaimed on the evening of August 30th. On Monday the 10th, several persons petition the court under this very Act, referred to popularly as the Indictable Offences Act. On that same day an article appears in the Express by Clarence Rambharat that explores Clause 34 of the Act that will help “Ish and Steve” to walk free.

In the article he implies, or at least creates the impression that there was some sort of collaboration between the Opposition and the Cabinet to enact section 34 thereby creating the legal loophole that might free “Ish and Steve”.

Events follow at warp speed. On Tuesday 13th at 10 am the PNM holds a press conference stating its position on Section 34 and calling on the Prime Minister to convene Parliament to repeal the law. In the midst of Rowley answering media questions a one-sentence announcement comes from the Minister of Communications that Parliament will be convened the following day. The Government claims that this decision was not influenced by the Opposition, but rather, they are responding to the cries of the people. The same way this weekends pre-Budget Rally is a response to the cries of the people. At the time of this announcement of a convened Parliament  the population is still attempting to grapple with the Guardian headline from two days before and isn’t quite sure what Section 34 means.

The Lower and Upper House debates come and the citizenry are suitably pissed on by the Cabinet and told it is a passing shower. No one explains why the Lower House saw one wording of the Section 34 Clause, and the Upper House saw a different wording. No one explains who changed the wording of the Bill. No one explains why after the Cabinet promised no early proclamation of the Bill until all measures were in place it was enacted several months in advance of January 2013. What we are told repeatedly is that there is no conspiracy on the part of the Government to free Ish and Steve and we are reminded constantly through much coughing that the Opposition voted for it too.

Under PM Kamla’s skilful story telling, Section 34 goes from being about a breach in legislation, to PNM vs People’s Partnership thing. The Cabinet refuses to accept responsibility for early proclamation of the Bill and the Opposition is put on the defensive to explain their role in it. Then faecal matter starts to fly. We find out through various letters to the press and other media events that the Minister of Legal Affairs, The DPP, the Criminal Bar Association, the Law Association and the Chief Justice never saw, nor agreed to an early proclamation of Section 34. This then forces the Prime Minister, who has been characteristically quiet and always “unresponsible” to decide to speak on the matter on the evening of Thursday 20th, September. Before doing so, she conducts a whirlwind tour of Laventille complete with a cadre of ministers and Olympian Keshorn Walcott. By the end of the Prime Minister’s speech she reveals that she has investigated herself; insists that her government was not aware of the flaws in the Act; there was no conspiracy; decides to remove Herbert Volney as Minister of Justice because he has lied to the Cabinet; stresses to the nation that the Parliament was collectively responsible for the law being enacted; insists that Attorney General Anand Ramlogan was innocent of any wrongdoing; and gives the country a very convoluted and erroneous timeline.

But you see here is the rub, in misspeaking about the timeline the PM has opened up another can of worms. A can of worms that is now revealing that she and her Cabinet were made aware, since 2011, by Ramadhar, al Rawi and Imbert that section 34 had serious implications. Further, her insistence that Anand Ramlogan was out of the country when the decision to enact the Bill was taken seems to be incorrect. The Prime Minister insists that Ramlogan was out of the country from July 20th to August 4th.  The Cabinet meeting to decide on early proclamation happened after August 6th; and further, even if Ramlogan wasn’t here, the acting AG, according to the Gazette was Ganga Singh. So, we had an AG to walk the legislation through. The Bill didn’t walk by itself.

Then there is the curious incident of the publication of the law itself. The Guardian published the story about “Ish and Steve” walking free on September 9th. The two men petitioned the court on Monday 10th; but the law was only printed and circulated by the Government printery that same Monday, in fact the Monday evening. So how did “Ish and Steve’s” lawyers find out about the Act in time to petition the court on the Monday morning, and how did the media find out about the proclaimed Act and “Ish and Steve’s” petition before Monday September 10th? Where is the leak?

We have a crime: perversion of the course of justice; we have suspects: most of them sitting in the Cabinet. What we need now is to find a judge, a jury and an executioner.

De Vice Cyah Done!

The Clause 34 Timeline (Updated)

Posted on by

TIME LINE & ISSUES (This Time Line continues to be a work in progress as new info offers itself up)

 

RELATIVE TO THE SECTION 34 FIASCO

 

 

The following is materially relevant for National consideration:

 

 

 

1.                 Ramlogan was appointed by the Prime Minister as the Attorney General on May 26th 2010 and after he and the Prime Minister were sworn in, the Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago was fully constituted.  Volney was sworn in as Minister of Justice thereafter.  Warner is the Minister of National Security.  Ramadhar is the Minister of Legal Affairs, acts as the Minister of Justice and is Head of the Legislative Review Committee.  Singh is the Minister of the Environment and Water Resources and acts as the Attorney General and is the leader of Government business in the Senate.

 

 

 

2.                 In the second half of 2010, the Attorney General replaced the team of Attorneys which to that date had successfully resisted all approaches to the Court intended to stall the extradition to the United States of America of Messrs. Galbaransingh and Ferguson to face criminal prosecution there.

 

 

 

3.                 In or around June 15th 2010 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council dismissed applications for Habeas Corpus filed by Galbarsingh and Ferguson rendering them liable to be placed into custody pending extradition.  In light of the decision of the Privy Council it was Ramlogan’s responsibility to instruct that Galbaransingh and Ferguson be placed into custody to await extradition. He failed to do so with alacrity.  It was only after the insistence of the Director of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) were they placed into custody pending extradition.

 

 

 

4.                 Contrary to extradition practice and procedure which prescribes that the requested state should resist bail applications, the Attorney General adopted the position that the State should not support nor oppose the application for bail for Galbaransingh and Ferguson, but merely assist the court.

 

 

 

5.                 According to various press releases and news reports, the Legislative Review Committee (LRC), the DPP, the Law Association and the Criminal Bar Association were all consulted with respect to the Administration of Justice (Preliminary Inquiry) Bill but the controversial section 34 and Sixth Schedule were not in the Bill and therefore were not considered by these public authorities and bodies.

 

 

 

6.                 Mr. Justice Boodoosingh’s judgment in Judicial Review proceedings HCA No. CV 2010-04144 filed by Galbaransingh and Ferguson against the Attorney General’s decision to extradite them was delivered on 7th November 2011. By this judgment, it was held that it would be “unjust, oppressive and unlawful” to extradite Galbaransingh and Ferguson to the United States because they could be tried for their offences in Trinidad and Tobago and indeed Trinidad and Tobago was the appropriate forum for such trial.

 

 

 

7.                 The Administration of Justice (Preliminary Inquiry) Bill was laid in the House of Representatives for its 1st reading on November 11th 2011;

 

 

 

8.                 Debate in the House of Representatives on the Bill began on November 18th 2011.   In this version of the Bill, section 34 and the Sixth Schedule provided for the “amnesty” to begin to run from the date of charge.  On this version, the charges against Galbaransingh and Ferguson in what is called the Piarco #2 criminal proceedings would not have been affected, but the charges in Piarco #1 would have been subject to dismissal.

 

 

 

9.                 The Administration of Justice (Preliminary Inquiry) Bill was laid in the Senate for its 1streading on November 22nd 2011;

 

 

 

10.            On November 29th 2011 debate on the Bill began in the Senate.  The Bill from the House of Representatives contained section 34 in same terms as debated and passed in the House of Representatives.  Independent Senator Prescott SC alluded to the possible impact on fraud and bid-rigging cases. He said (vide pp. 115-116 of Hansard):

 

 

 

“If you have been brought to court and 10 years have passed since the proceedings have been instituted, a judge is bound to discharge the accused. 

 

Mr. President, if you are charged in this country with fraud, with currency infringement, with bidrigging and you have enough money to take the matter to the Privy Council at each stage, 10 years later you are bound to find—you may well find, that you are  still at the initial hearing or the sufficiency hearing.  

 

In short, current events tell us that it may take 10 years to get out of the masters’ court in a sufficiency hearing.  And then all you have to do when you cross the 10 years deadline, go before the judge and say dismiss this case; discharge me here.  I do not know, because there used to be a doubt in my mind whether discharge means that there are not going to be any further criminal proceedings, but it would certainly lead to further constitutional proceedings if you try to charge him again.”

 

 

 

11.            Immediately thereafter Ramlogan made his contribution.  Ramlogan himself made a transparent reference to the Piarco cases.  He said: (vide p. 124 of the Hansard):

 

 

 

“In highly complex and technical matters, in particular, in relation to financial crimes, fraud matters, this abolition of preliminary inquiries will serve us well because we have known that matters have taken a meandering, endless path through the labyrinth of our criminal justice system for quite some time now, with no end in sight.  The endemic backlog that presently exists, this will hopefully dynamite the log-jam and it is going to free up the system and have knock-on benefits down the road.“

 

 

 

12.            An Amendment to Section 34 providing that the ‘amnesty’ would commence 10 years from the occurrence of the offence, instead of from the laying of the charge, was introduced by Volney at the Committee Stage in the Senate after the debate had ended.  On this version, the charges in Piarco #2 would now be subject to dismissal.  At no time during his contribution did Volney explain the difference between the version of section 34 as brought from the House of Representatives and the amendment that he now proposed.

 

 

 

13.            Before the Committee Stage of the Senate was concluded discussions took place (as they say behind the President’s chair) between an independent Senator, Senator Al-Rawi and Ramlogan about the impact of the proposed amendment to section 34 on the pending Piarco cases.   The Senators all agreed that once section 34 came into force Galbaransingh and Ferguson would be entitled to apply to have the cases against them dismissed.  Ramlogan assured the Senators that before the Act was proclaimed there would be full consideration of all issues, that all conditions requested in the debates in the House of Representatives and the Senate would be met and that a further review would be had, including an amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Act to make the offences with which Galbaransingh and Ferguson were charged exempt from the application of section 34.  He pointed out that the amendment to the Sixth Schedule could be done under section 27(3) by a Minister’s Order or by way of amendments to the Act prior to proclamation.

 

 

 

14.            By the end of November 2011, therefore, it is clear that Ramlogan knew (or ought to have known) that section 34 would free UNC financiers Galbaransingh and Ferguson.

 

 

 

15.            Indeed, on September 13th 2012 the Senators with whom Ramlogan held discussions behind the President’s Chair reminded him of those discussions.  Further, during the course of the debate on September 13th 2012 on the Bill to repeal section 34, Senator Prescott re-read his contributions quoted above reminding the Senate of his cautions with respect to the impact of section 34.  For his part, Al-Rawi reminded the Senate during the same debate of what he described as the “side-bar” discussions with Ramlogan on November 29th 2011.  Ramlogan did not deny any of this in his windup.

 

 

 

16.            With this knowledge, it was incumbent on the Attorney General to take immediate steps to effect an appropriate amendment to section 34 or the Sixth Schedule to ensure that Galbarabsingh and Ferguson were not the beneficiaries of the amnesty.  He was obliged to do so because this is what he had undertaken to do in his discussions behind the President’s chair in the Senate.  He was obliged to do so because the State had expended substantial resources in prosecuting the cases against them in relation to serious charges of fraud and bidrigging.  It was also imperative that he do so because it was obvious that the discharge of Galbarabsingh and Ferguson would cause grave public disquiet and embarrassment to his government.  It was therefore expected that he would take it upon himself to initiate appropriate amendments to the Act, unless of course he already knew that it was his government’s intention to allow Galbaransingh and Ferguson to go free.

 

 

 

17.            On December 16th 2011 the President of the Republic assented to the Administration of Justice (Preliminary Enquiry) Bill as Act No. 20 of 2011

 

 

 

18.            On December 17th 2011 James Lewis QC gave his opinion to Ramlogan on a possible appeal against the judgment of Boodoosingh J.  He stated at page 18, paragraph 5.10:

 

 

 

“On the other hand I am informed that the Claimants can be tried in Trinidad and Tobago almost immediately on the same conduct”.

 

 

 

Given that Mr Lewis was advising the Attorney General, one must assume that he got that information from the Attorney General himself.  But after the passage section 34, it was clear that, upon proclamation, Galbarabsingh and Ferguson could not be tried at all.  It was equally clear therefore that Lewis’ advice was based upon false or incomplete information.

 

 

 

19.            On December 19th 2011 Ramlogan announced his decision not to appeal Justice Boodoosingh’s ruling on the basis that the “ends of justice” will be served by foregoing the Appeal and allowing the criminal prosecution currently before the local courts to proceed.  See Newsday Article by Jada Loutoo appearing on December 20th 2011.

 

 

 

20.            Ramlogan’s decision not to appeal effectively gave Galbaransingh and Ferguson their first victory against the State with respect to their extradition proceedings and meant that they would not be tried in the United States.  And the reason for this dramatic event, according to the Attorney General, was that they would be tried in Trinidad and Tobago.

 

 

 

21.            It must have been clear to the Attorney General that once section 34 was proclaimed Galbaransingh and Ferguson would be entitled to apply to the court to be discharged of all offences. He could therefore have done two things.  He could have appealed the Judge’s decision and introduce fresh evidence before the Court of Appeal that section 34 once proclaimed would undercut the foundation of Justice Boodoosingh’s decision.  Or, as he had promised, he could have taken steps to ensure that section 34 was amended so that there would in fact be a trial.  He did neither!  It is either that he never intended to take steps to amend section 34 because it was his government’s or his own personal intention that Galbarabsingh and Ferguson should escape justice, in which case he deliberately misrepresented to the public that there would be a local trial.  Or he was grossly negligent in not taking steps to ensure that there would be a trial.

 

 

 

22.            It is probably not surprising that on December 21st 2011 the United States Embassy in Trinidad by way of a press release expressed disappointment as to the outcome of the Galbaransingh and Ferguson extradition case.

 

 

 

23.            On July 24th 2012 Volney, Warner and others attended a meeting with the DPP, the Chief Justice and others held by the Judiciary and Justice Sector Committee at the Chief Justice’s Conference room at the Hall of Justice.  According to a press release by the DPP, the item on the agenda was the “Implementation Process for the Regime under the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011”.  See the DPP’s Press Release dated 11th September 2011.  The DPP specifically stated in this release:

 

 

 

“During this meeting, the effect and to some extent, the import of section 34 of the Act were raised.  This prompted a response by Minister of Justice that Cabinet had made a decision”.

 

 

 

24.            In relation to that very same meeting, Warner stated in an interview appearing on television on or around September 20th 2012 that it was agreed at the meeting of July 24th 2012 that Act No. 20 of 2011 was to be proclaimed in its entirety.

 

 

 

25.            The Prime Minister in her Address to the Nation of September 20th 2012 said that Ramlogan was out of the country during the period July 20th 2012 to August 4th 2012.  During that period Singh acted as Attorney General.

 

 

 

26.            Volney prepared the Cabinet Note which supposedly led to his dismissal on August 6th2012.  Ramlogan returned to Trinidad on August 4th 2012.  Volney stated in his televised press conference on September 21st 2012 that he was out of the country when the Cabinet note came up for confirmation and that Ramadhar acted as Minister of Justice in his absence.

 

 

 

27.            It is important to note that Ramlogan (who knew of the effect of section 34 on the prosecution of the Galbaransingh and Ferguson matters), Warner and Singh (who would both have been aware of the undertaking to proclaim the Act in its entirety) were all present at the relevant Cabinet meetings.  One can only conclude, based on the Address to the Nation by the Prime Minister on September 20th 2012, that Ramlogan said nothing at the said Cabinet meetings in relation to the impact of section 34 and that Warner and Singh said nothing in relation to the meeting of July 24th2012, where according to Warner, the undertaking was given to proclaim the Act in its entirety. This must be emphasized: Ramlogan apparently did not advise his Cabinet colleagues that the early proclamation of section 34 would have entitled Galbaransingh and Ferguson to apply immediately to have their charges dismissed!

 

 

 

28.            The Cabinet Note of August 6th 2012 states:

 

 

 

(i)                At paragraph 5 – “The Minister of Justice has consulted with the Honourable Chief Justice on a date for the coming into effect of the measures introduced in the act and it has been agreed that the Indictable Offences (Preliminary Enquiry) Act be repealed and that the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011 shall come into effect in its entirety on January 2nd 2013.”

 

 

 

(ii)              At paragraph 6 – “In order to facilitate a seamless operational transition it is necessary for the Act to be proclaimed in part on August 31st 2012 in order to inform the need inter alia for the creation of eight (8) new positions of Masters by an Amendment to the Supreme Court of Judicature Act.  This will give authority for the recruitment and appointment of Masters of the High Court by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission in order that the Act may be operationalized on its effective date of January 2nd 2013.”

 

 

 

29.             According to the Cabinet minute dated August 9th 2012, the said note was considered and Cabinet agreed that:

 

 

 

“(a)           In accordance with the provision of 1(ii) of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011 the President by proclamation:

 

 

 

(i)                fix August 31st 2012 as the date on which the Act, with the exception of section 3(2) and (3), 4 to 31, 33, 35 Schedules 1 to 5 and Schedules 7 and 8 shall come into operation.

 

 

 

(ii)              fix January 2nd 2013 as the date on which Sections 3(2) and (3), 4 to 31, 33, 35 Schedules 1 to 5 and Schedules 7 and 8 of the said Act  shall come into operation.

 

 

 

(b)                         The Attorney General cause to be prepared the necessary Proclamation(s) to give legal effect to (a) above.”

 

 

 

30.            The President of Republic signed the Proclamation of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011 on August 28th 2012 which was published in the Gazette on 10thSeptember 2012 as Legal Notice No. 348 (No. 8 of 2012).

 

 

 

31.            The House of Representatives was convened to debate a bill to repeal section 34 retroactively on September 12th 2012.  Ramlogan, Warner, Roberts and Volney spoke in the debate.  None of them spoke to any of the matters raised by the Prime Minister in her Address to the Nation on September 20th 2012 nor to any of the matters set out above.

 

 

 

32.            The Senate was convened to debate the bill to repeal section 34 retroactively on September 12th 2012 as passed in the House of Representatives.  Ramlogan was the only person of all 15 Government Senators present, to contribute to the Bill.  He spoke to none of the matters raised by the Prime Minister in her Address to the Nation on September 20th 2012.

 

 

 

33.            The Attorney General is the titular head of bar and is the 2nd person to be appointed after the Prime Minister to comprise a Cabinet.  It is his duty and responsibility to vet all Cabinet Notes presented to the Cabinet and to advise on all legal issues arising.  The office of the Attorney General is directly­ involved in the Galbaransingh and Ferguson matters through the extradition request.  He was in the country and in Cabinet on August 6th 2012 and in the Cabinet confirmation meeting thereafter when the aforementioned Note and Minute were discussed and when the Prime Minister examined Volney on whether the Chief Justice and the DPP had been consulted.

 

 

 

34.            In light of the above, Ramlogan owed the public answers to the following questions:

 

 

 

(i)                Why did he not appeal Justice Boodoosingh’s decision and apply to put fresh evidence before the Court of Appeal that section 34 now rendered a local trial impossible and that accordingly the basis on which Justice Boodoosingh decided that it was unjust and oppressive to extradite Galbaransingh and Ferguson no longer existed?

 

 

 

(ii)             Why did he tell the public that he decided not to appeal because there was to be a local trial when he knew that once section 34 was proclaimed Galbaranbsingh and Ferguson would be discharged?

 

 

 

(iii)           Why did he not take steps to amend the Sixth Schedule or section 34 to make sure that Galbaransingh and Ferguson could not rely on section 34?

 

 

 

(iv)           Why did he not advise Cabinet on August 6th that the proclamation of section 34 would mean that Galbaransingh and Ferguson would be entitled to be discharged?

 

 

 

(v)              Did he fail to do all of these obvious things because it was his government’s intention that Galbarabsingh and Ferguson should go free? Or was that result his own private intention?

 

 

 

 

 

35.            At the very least, Ramlogan knew that when section 34 was proclaimed Galbaransingh and Ferguson would be freed.  His failure to do anything, whether by advising Cabinet of this eventuality or otherwise, represents gross dereliction of duty on his part.

 

 

 

36.            Warner, Ramadhar and Singh appear in the context of their continued silence to be complicit in the section 34 fiasco.

 

 

 

37.            The Prime Minister’s explanations in her Address to the Nation on September 20th 2012 are seriously lacking.  Her decision to fire Volney as opposed to announcing an acceptance of his resignation is entirely suspicious.  She must explain having deemed Ramlogan and herself deserving of “silk” why none of the aforementioned has been brought to the national attention. 

 

 

 

38.            The nation clearly cannot trust the government and it is therefore imperative that the country be permitted to judge them in a general election.