Farley Augustine, political leader of the Tobago People’s Party and Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), has called on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to publicly address and clear his name regarding serious allegations involving his close friend, Tobago businessman Allan Warner. Warner was arrested and charged last week for processing minerals without a licence.
Warner, 74, was arrested at the St Joseph Police Station with his attorney and was granted $100,000 in bail.
Then on Sunday, a media report suggested that the Dr Rowley was allegedly involved in expediting a licenced firearm for Warner. The reports said that Rowley and former national security minister Stuart Young contacted former police commissioner Gary Griffith about Warner’s applications for a Firearm User’s Licence (FUL).
Both Dr Rowley and Young denied fast-tracking the applications, saying they only inquired about their status. However, Griffith suggested their communications implied a request to expedite the licence. Warner also denied getting help for the FUL, which he said he needed for personal safety after surviving two armed robberies.
But Augustine said he remains suspicious over the matter, especially with his personal experience with Warner Construction and Sanitation Ltd (WCSL). Speaking to the media at the TPP headquarters in Scarborough yesterday, Augustine said, “Certainly he has to clear his name; I can’t do that for him. The prime minister has a history of being very protective of his friends; we saw AV Drilling and how he drilled down on that friendship and supported that friendship notwithstanding. But, in this instance, I think the allegations are serious.”
Augustine had alleged in 2023 that the leak of a tape from a private meeting, which was under police investigation, was part of an extortion plot to get the THA to pay money to WCSL.
He said that the company had been paid $25.2 million by his administration for a series of projects, some of which had questions about them. Augustine alleged that the $100 million was sent to Tobago “because two senior members” of the Government called “and asked that I find a way to give Warner’s $60 million out of the $100 million.”
But Keon Warner, son of Allan Warner, admitted that WCSL made a verbal request for $60 million from the chief secretary for outstanding payments from construction projects. Keon also admitted their company had been facing financial issues, and they made the request for the millions owed through Augustine, who, on his own accord, went to the Central Government for help.
He threatened to sue Augustine over the damning allegations.
Keon had told the Sunday Guardian that his road projects were done above board and that his company is not involved in any corruption or blackmailing.
Responding to the allegation, Keon defended his company and his name, stating that “everything in Tobago, so far, was done above board.”
“I am not going to ease him up at all. Where he claimed that we got paid for work that we never did that is crazy. I have all my paperwork … I have all my documents. I am going all the way with this,” he said.
Keon said his bank account would reflect the work he delivered and what was paid to him, insisting that Augustine has been grasping at straws to distract and save himself from his lifelong misdeeds.
“The voice recording has been exposed and I’m definitely not the one that recorded and exposed it,” he added.
Keon described Augustine’s allegation of a blackmail campaign as “crazy talk.”
While Augustine said he was not rejoicing over the ordeal, he hopes investigators leave no stone unturned. “I really hope, for their sake, that these are just allegations and that they can come away from this. I guess the rest of the country is getting to see that I was not being petty; I was not being spiteful against them.
“When the conflict arose between myself and that family and their business I spoke of the fact that I felt pressured to provide favours ... I spoke of that family’s business in relation to the THA audit and what we found there. I was accused of hating the family.”
Dr Rowley could not be reached for a response.