Jensen La Vende
Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
As he seeks to clear his name, Foster Cummings, Minister of Youth Development and National Service, has detailed the contracts he got under while he was a Government Senator.
His company, Pical Services Limited, was awarded six contracts, including two from Housing Development Corporation( HDC) for grass cutting, two for garbage collection and two for bulk waste collection and disposal services. The contracts which were awarded between 2016 to 2017, and were all extended to December 31, 2024.
A leaked Special Branch report last year alleged that Cummings had conducted unscrupulous businesses through two companies contracted to the HDC. The minister has now turned to former UNC Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC to plead his case.
On May 3, his attorneys, Maharaj, Ronnie Bissessar and Varin Gopaul-Gosine, wrote to the T&T Police Service (TTPS) asking that they publicly clear his name following the leak which was first made public by Opposition Senator Jyanti Lutchmedial and later confirmed as authentic by then acting police commissioner Mc Donald Jacob.
In the letter to Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher, Cummings’ attorneys said that there is “substantial incorrect information” in the report. They asked that the TTPS expunge the entire report and make public its decision so that Cummings can be vindicated.
The attorney said the contracts were awarded by HDC because the control of grass-cutting, and garbage collection had not been handed over to the respective regional corporations.
Cummings is the general secretary of the People’s National Movement (PNM).
Minister responds to allegations
In their seven-page letter, Cummings’ attorneys acknowledged that the Special Branch report was authentic. They said since the report was made public it was incumbent to have the inaccurate information corrected.
The three-page Special Branch report dated June 5, 2019, and signed by then Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Pamela Schullera Hinds, was entitled “Foster CUMMINGS-Activities of.”
The letter from the attorneys quotes section 36(1) of the Freedom of Information Act which allows a person who is aggrieved by information from a state entity to provide correct information. The individual must write to the entity providing the correct information.
Here is how Cummings responded:
Allegation 1 The report identified Cummings as living upstairs a restaurant at Southern Main Road, Couva.
Response: The address was confirmed but the attorneys said it was in a supermarket.
Allegation 2: Cummings “conducted unscrupulous business” through two companies, Pical Services Limited and Cyldeon Enterprises Limited (CEL).
Response: CEL was not listed on the Company’s Registry. Cummings denied that he conducted unscrupulous businesses through Pical Services Limited, CEL or HDC.
Allegation 3: Cummings “claimed” three parcels of land belonging to the HDC at Southern Main Road and Ibis Avenue, Couva.
Response: Cummings bought the parcel of land on Balisier Street, Point Lisas, while his wife, Juliet Cummings, purchased a parcel of land from the HDC in 2012 and another property from Mariha Shinile Salazar at Southern Main Road, Couva.
Allegation 4: Cummings “used his influence” to sub-contract a garbage collection contract from HDC and his companies were awarded contracts to maintain vacant HDC properties in Couva and Chaguanas. Response: After a fair and transparent bidding process, Pical Services Limited, which was pre-approved in HDC’s registry, was awarded work.
The contracts:
The grass-cutting contract to Pical for HDC’s Edinburgh 500 (West) Development was awarded on August 30, 2016, and extended to December 31, 2024.
The grass cutting for HDC’s Couva Exchange empty lots was awarded on the same day and continues to December 31, 2024, as well.
The contract for garbage collection for Block 7-20 at HDC’s Edinburgh South Housing Development was awarded on June 24, 2016, and extended to December 31, 2024.
The garbage collection contract for Block 38-43 Edinburgh South was awarded the same day and extended to the same period. The HDC, in a letter dated March 21, 2022, extended the contracts.
Pical Services Limited was also awarded bulk waste collection and disposal services at HDC’s 500 Housing Development, Point Lisas Gardes and Embacadere Development. The Edinburgh 500 contracts were awarded on August 28, 2017, and May 7, 2016, respectively and extended to December 31, 2024.
“Our client is unable to comment on any contracts purportedly awarded by the HDC to CEL save and except to state that no such registered company is in existence. Further, several other contractors provide services for the HDC in the Couva and Chaguanas areas,” the letter said.
Allegation 5: The company placed a “reputed drug dealer” and leader of the Railway Road Gang as a sub-contractor for several of its sites although he was not listed as a registered business owner.
Response: Pical never hired the reputed gangster.
The attorneys said if the police had spoken to Cummings, he would have cleared his name before it was shared, and the damage suffered would have been avoided. They said Cummings reserves his right to take whatever remedies in law he sees fit.
Six days after the letter was sent, Harewood-Christopher issued a memorandum with the subject “Secrete and Confidential Special Branch Report in respect of Mr Foster Cummings MP. Correction of Personal Information Pursuant to Section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act.” She asked to be “kindly apprised of any updates in this matter.”
Fortunes and misfortunes
In keeping with the Integrity in Public Life Act, since coming into office, the minister has declared his assets. His properties increased over the years beginning in 2018/2019, when he declared nine properties. In 2020, he declared two more and in 2021, 12 properties. Those properties include land at Fabien Street, Gasparillo; Gurahoo Trace, Chase Village, Chaguanas; Lighthouse Avenue, Signal Hill, Tobago; Exchange Estate, Couva; Indian Trail, Couva; Lisas Gardens housing project, Couva and Sherwood Park, Carnbee, Tobago.
He also has land and buildings at Southern Main Road, Couva; Aneisa St., Point Lisas, Rawlins Avenue, Gasparillo; Balisier Avenue, Lisas Gardens.
After the Special Branch report was shared, the then acting police commissioner Mc Donald Jacob said the Financial Intelligence Bureau (FIB) was investigating Cummings.
In October 2021, the police applied for production orders for information from several financial entities as they probed payments to companies formerly linked to the minister. Cummings’s attorneys objected to the police’s application and suspended the production orders. Last October, the judge hearing the case ruled against the objection by Cummings’s lawyers.
In an interview in May last year, Jacob said the FIB were continuing investigations. At a media briefing a month later acting Snr Supt assigned to the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau (ACIB) Deryck Walker said the investigations could take “from a day to ten years” depending on what was unearthed.
“Time is relative, it depends on the complexity of that investigation, and it is difficult to set a time to finish any particular investigation. As I said, I will not discuss the particular investigations and will speak in general terms,” he said.
In July 2021, attorneys Asha Watkins-Montserin and Keisha Kydd-Hannibal, who were representing Cummings, denied their client was being investigated. At the time they were responding to rumours that the home of a government minister had been searched by the police.
The lawyers said in a statement: “The rumours being perpetuated are false, misleading and are designed by others to attempt to damage his reputation. Notwithstanding, Minister Cummings remains committed to serving his country, his constituents and his ministry with unwavering dedication despite these unfounded lies. The minister rebukes these attempts to malign his character. Furthermore, he has not been informed that he is the subject of any investigation by the police or any other authorities.”
The Sunday Guardian was unable to get an update on the police investigation by press time. Cummings said the request to clear his name was in the hands of his attorneys and as such he had no comment to make.
AG vs AG
Cummings sued Lutchmedial for defamation and later filed an injunction to stop her from repeating the claims as well as speaking on the financial circumstances of him and his family after she spoke about the contents of the report.
At first, he hired the firm of Farai Andre Hove Masaisai while Lutchmedial was represented by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan. Cummings changed his attorney mid-way and retained Maharaj but Lutchmedial’s representation remains Ramlogan.
Both Maharaj and Ramlogan both served as AGs for the United National Congress (UNC.
On June 10, Justice Nadia Kangaloo dismissed Cummings’ application for the injunction but allowed the defamation lawsuit to continue.
Kangaloo found that based on the evidence, Lutchmedial took a reasonable, methodical, reasoned and careful approach and exercised due diligence in confirming the authenticity of the documents.
After losing the injunction, Cummings appealed but later withdrew his application. The substantive matter of defamation is due to come up for case management in October.
Days after Lutchmedial spoke about the document, Cummings and his family received counselling, according to his attorneys in their pre-action protocol letter. Cummings also claimed he provided all of the “evidentiary facts” to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley after the claims were made.
Asked about the matter at a media conference a week later, Rowley said Special Branch reports should be taken with a bit of salt. He said he was provided information that contradicted the claims in the report and it was up to the police to investigate the claims and produce the evidence to support it.
About Foster Cummings (put in box)
Cummings entered the Parliament as a temporary Government Senator on January 15, 2008. In 2011, he served as an Opposition Senator for three years and was reappointed as a Government Senator from September 2015 to December 2019.
He became the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government on January 1, 2020, and months later, on August 10, won the La Horquetta/Talparo seat in the 2020 general election.
Cummings was appointed Minister in the Ministry of Works and Transport on August 19, 2020. He was reassigned as the Minister of Youth Development and National Service in April 2021.