Government must say if it is going to the London courts to call for the $852 million arbitration award to OAS to be set aside and dismissed, says UNC MP Roodal Moonilal.
Moonilal spoke at Sunday’s UNC media briefing about the arbitration award in which Government has to pay OAS $852 million due to termination of the contract on the Point Fortin Highway.
Moonilal felt this deserved a Commission of Enquiry probe and called on the Police Commissioner to investigate the roles of Nidco’s Board and Minister Stuart Young in the issue.
Saying taxpayers were the losers in the issue, Moonilal claimed Government would have to pay more than the $852 million because of legal costs and professional fees and if OAS demanded its costs be paid.
Moonilal said the UNC when it assumes Government, in cases of monies like this, would ensure that if a court deemed there’s breach of any law in arriving at the termination decision, the people who must pay this are the company’s directors.
Also, if it had the Cabinet’s permission, he felt the monies must “come from Keith Rowley, Faris Al0 Rawi and Stuart Young,”
He added, “We must find new laws to seize their pensions and gratuity payments from them. It must be returned to the taxpayers to pay bills like this where it’s deemed by the court there was such a catastrophe in dealing with these matters that they breached the law causing big legal catastrophies, using the Cabinet as a rubber stamp,”
“The PM must be held accountable and if we cannot get to his pension, we must consider taking away his goat farm if it comes to that, to pay bills existing when he demits office.”
Moonilal called for Nidco chairman Herbert George to say why the contract was terminated and for him and Rowley to say if Cabinet sanctioned the termination
He said, “Government must also identify the lawyers who advised Nidco to terminate the contract.
“Minister Young must say what role he played and whether he depended on a known colleague—one Jason Mootoo—and any US legal firm for this advice and the cost incurred by taxpayers for such advice.”
Moonilal named Nidco’s nine Board members of 2016, calling for dismissal of any/all still in service.
He warned UNC would publish their photos and challenge them to explain the termination decision, their role in it and who provided legal advice,
“They must be held accountable for their actions in approving the decision to wrongfully terminate OAS’s contract which led to Government’s $1 billion loss,” he also said.