Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is calling on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to immediately fire Housing Minister Emily Dick-Forde. She has also called for the immediate removal of members of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott) board. "I have said that the matter involving lands sold by NUGFW to Udecott was a matter for the Integrity Commission...It is now clear that the Uff Commission agrees with me," she said. "The members of the board continue to hold on to office, despite the incriminating evidence presented in the report. "They must be fired now," Persad-Bissessar said.
Her comments came as media reports said that chairman of the Commission of Enquiry into the Construction Sector and Udecott, Prof John Uff, QC, recommended that a police probe be conducted against former executive chairman of Udecott Calder Hart and the entire board, in relation to the award of the $368 million Ministry of Legal Affairs tower contract and the $885 million Brian Lara Stadium project at Tarouba. In a statement yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said the report revealed "a sordid tale of mismanagement, corruption, subterfuge and cover-ups." ?
She said: "It is a most damning statement of Manning and his Government whose ministers and board of directors should be investigated." Persad-Bissessar has also called for the recommendations of the report to be implemented and for Hart to return to T&T, as well as the members of the board should not be allowed to leave T&T. She said a special team of investigators should be appointed to execute the recommendations in the report when it came to criminal investigations.
Persad-Bissessar is also calling for:
1. The Attorney General to provide the human, physical and technical resources to the police to immediately begin their investigations, since reports emanating from inside the Police Service indicate that they are being frustrated in their work.
2. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to examine the evidence collected by the police and to lay charges.
3. Attorney General John Jeremie to tell the nation what he knows about the whereabouts of Calder Hart.
4. The relevant authorities to seize the passports of people who the Uff Commission says should be investigated.
5. A review of the companies and agencies now exempt from the Freedom of Information Act in order to create transparency and public accountability.
6. Publication the report in all of the newspapers so that all the citizens can read of the corruption perpetrated against them by the PNM Government.