Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal said yesterday he has been forced to return his Housing Development Corporation-leased Range Rover HSE because of security threats as a result of reports published in the T&T Guardian. Moonilal made the comment at the installation of the new HDC's board at Union Hall, San Fernando, when asked about a T&T Guardian story yesterday, which noted that his request to outfit the $24,000-a-month vehicle with siren and flashing blue lights was initially turned down by Transport Commissioner Reuben Cato.
Moonilal, who arrived at the function in the Range Rover, said: "I took note of the report. I have asked the HDC to take back the vehicle and I have asked them to contact the Guardian and ask them to recommend a vehicle for me, because they have interviewed some unknown mechanic who made some comments about the vehicle, so we are asking the Guardian to recommend an appropriate vehicle for me to use."The minister said the T&T Police Service also had "internal correspondence" about the security concerns which he would be taking to Guardian Media Ltd in a day.He accused the T&T Guardian and investigative reporter Denyse Renne, who wrote the reports, of putting his life and his family's lives at risk."Since the Guardian has started this campaign against me, we have had some security concerns now, where our vehicle is known in the public," Moonilal said."People are stopping us on the highways, congregating around the vehicle wherever I go and it is posing a security threat. I am very disturbed that the Trinidad Publishing Company and the Guardian has exposed myself and family to security threats," he said.
Moonilal claims life in danger
The T&T Publishing Company was the former name of Guardian Media Ltd. He added: "As I said in the presentation, when you are a Minister of Housing you are the landlord of criminal elements."There are certain parts of Port-of-Spain where there are people who do work in the housing sector who are people with very long criminal records. "This is part of it and those people from time-to- time need to see me for different things."Saying it was not wise for a Housing Minister to be in a private car, he said:"I did not want it to come to this but after seeing what they had done today, I think it was horrible that people will expose me and my wife to that level of threats, where persons with criminal records will know what vehicle I use and will be able to approach me anywhere."
Moonilal said he was breaking no law or policy and it was a tragedy that the Guardian "has exposed me to this risk now where my wife cannot go anywhere in that vehicle. I cannot drive it certainly, no."Asked if he had received any threats, he said: "The kind of people we deal with in the housing sector, particularly in some areas, their very presence is threatening enough." He said there were 25 conditions associated with obtaining the Range Rover and he had abided by them. Noting that Renne was the reporter referred to in the Section 34 e-mail scandal, he said she "is on a campaign to hound me down, where my security is now threatened.
"I would like the Guardian and that particular reporter to know that it is very terrible to conduct this kind of campaign," he said, adding that he was not involved in the "fabrication of the e-mail."Asked whether his new vehicle would be outfitted with sirens and strobe lights, he said: "I cannot talk about security arrangements. I am also a member of the National Security Council. "In fact, when we talk about security, people condemn us, and when we don't they still condemn us," he added.
