Op­po­si­tion leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is call­ing on At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Faris Al-Rawi to ex­plain how he man­aged to con­struct a six-storey build­ing in Port-of-Spain with­out se­cur­ing a mort­gage.

Speak­ing at the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress’ Mon­day Night Fo­rum at the St Mary’s Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry school, Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so ques­tioned how a par­tic­u­lar group in Port-of-Spain had amassed over 150 prop­er­ties. She al­so de­mand­ed to know who was rent­ing Al-Rawi's build­ing and whether the ten­ants had ben­e­fit­ed from State briefs.

"There is a com­pa­ny reg­is­tered in the com­pa­ny’s reg­istry by the name of ABOX In­vest­ments Lim­it­ed. This com­pa­ny was in­cor­po­rat­ed on the ninth of No­vem­ber 2004. I have the com­pa­ny doc­u­ments right here," she said, hold­ing up a sheaf of pa­pers.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­leged with­in six weeks of be­ing in­cor­po­rat­ed, this com­pa­ny bought a par­cel of land on De­cem­ber 20, 2004, next to the con­vent in Port-of- Spain.

"The deed says that this par­cel of land in the heart of Port-of-Spain was bought for $750,000. Re­al­ly Faris! $750,000. I have the deed with me,” she said.

“It was put in­to the box for $750,000. Now I want to ask you tonight, do you know of any prop­er­ty that is sold in the heart of Port-of-Spain for $750,000.00?"

She said checks as re­cent as last week showed that there was no mort­gage on the prop­er­ty. She not­ed that in April 2016 an­oth­er prop­er­ty on 300 square me­tres of land on Pem­broke Street, Port-of-Spain, was bought for $2 mil­lion dol­lars. She claimed that the an­nu­al re­turn for this com­pa­ny shows that the share­hold­ers of this com­pa­ny were Al-Rawi and some of his rel­a­tives.

"I want to tell the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al tonight to fol­low that $750,000 be­cause we want to know if that was the re­al pur­chase price paid for that prop­er­ty! I want to ask the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al to tell us how this six-storey prop­er­ty in Port-of-Spain was con­struct­ed with­out a mort­gage," she added.

She al­so urged Al-Rawi to dis­close who were the ten­ants of a build­ing at 133 Ox­ford Street, Port-of-Spain, in which Al-Rawi and his fam­i­ly al­so had an in­ter­est.

"Are they in re­ceipt of lu­cra­tive mil­lion-dol­lar State briefs from the of­fice of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al and gov­ern­ment min­istries? Are you re­spon­si­ble, Mr At­tor­ney Gen­er­al, for mak­ing de­ci­sions that place mil­lions of dol­lars in state briefs in the hands of per­sons who you share prop­er­ty with?" she added.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar urged Al-Rawi to dis­close the source of the $2 mil­lion that was paid for the prop­er­ty pur­chased in 2015 on Pem­broke Street.

She not­ed that Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has been cov­er­ing for the AG and could not be trust­ed. Play­ing record­ings of Row­ley, Al-Rawi and PNM MP Mar­lene Mc Don­ald, Per­sad- Bisses­sar sought to dis­prove state­ments made by Row­ley.

My fi­nan­cial deal­ings can with­stand scruti­ny - AG

But in an im­me­di­ate re­sponse to the T&T Guardian fol­low­ing Sen­ate last night, AG Faris Al-Rawi said Per­sad-Bisses­sar was ob­vi­ous­ly con­fus­ing his be­hav­iour with the ac­tions and be­hav­iour of her UNC mem­bers.

"I can as­sure every­one that all of my fi­nan­cial deal­ings can with­stand scruti­ny," the AG told the T&T Guardia.

"I can con­firm I haven't rent­ed any premis­es to any lawyers and I nev­er have. I will rel­ish the op­por­tu­ni­ty to sue her for any li­bel she com­mits against me and my fam­i­ly."

On Per­sad-Bisses­sar's ques­tions over why there was al­leged­ly no mort­gage on the prop­er­ty, he said he isn't apol­o­gis­ing for be­ing suc­cess­ful.

"She's ob­vi­ous­ly pan­ick­ing on mat­ters she may sus­pect are im­mi­nent, this is a dis­trac­tion, which can be re­vealed in due course.