Guardian ( Trinidad and Tobago )
08 July 2024 ( Page 4 )
Investigate PM’s friendship with Warner
Opposition to Integrity Commission:
DEREK ACHONG SENIOR REPORTER DEREK.ACHONG@GUARDIAN.CO.TT
The Opposition is calling on the Integrity Commission to investigate Prime
Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s alleged friendship with Tobago businessman
Allan Warner.
Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein made the call while speaking at a
United National Congress (UNC) weekly press briefing yesterday.
Hosein’s request was based on reports of alleged conversations between
Rowley and former national security minister and current Energy and
Energy Industries Minister Stuart Young and former police commissioner
Gary Griffith in which inquiries were made over Warner’s firearm user’s
licence (FUL) application and an application for a blasting licence for
quarrying activity.
The reports were published as Warner was charged with mining without a
licence and was granted $100,000 bail last week.
Both Dr Rowley and Young have not denied the leaked text message
exchanges but have pointed out that they never asked Griffith to fasttrack the applications or improperly approve them as they were merely
seeking a status update.
In 2021, Hosein made a complaint to the commission over Rowley
allegedly failing to declare a townhouse in Tobago he and his wife
purchased in a community developed by Warner’s company.
Rowley repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, as he claimed that, from his
decades of experience in submitting such declarations, he was not required
to include the property on the Register of Interest Form but did so on other
declaration forms.
The commission stated that it had deliberated upon Hosein’s complaint
and was satisfied that there was no merit in an allegation contained in the
complaint against the PM. The commission eventually closed its
investigation.
Hosein said that the commission should reopen its investigation based on
the latest information, as the property was purchased during the period
when the application inquiries were allegedly made.
“I am calling on the Integrity Commission today, on behalf of the citizens
of T&T, that they ought to investigate this matter in light of these
circumstances that have come into the public domain,” Hosein said.
He stated that he was not casting aspersions, as the commission should
determine whether there was wrongdoing. “Let them determine what the
facts of the matter are,” he said.
Hosein questioned whether Rowley had followed up on FUL applications
for any other citizen. “Has the Prime Minister now reduced the Office of
the Prime Minister to the role of a caddy boy?” he asked.
Referring to newspaper reports of citizens filing lawsuits over delays by
the Office of the Police Commissioner in deciding their applications,
Hosein said, “How many other persons were denied or applications were
languishing and they have to go to court?”
Hosein noted that in an interview in the Sunday Express, Warner denied
requesting Rowley and Young’s assistance in following up on his
applications. Warner also revealed that he applied for the FUL after he was
robbed twice at gunpoint.
“Were they acting on their own volition? That makes it worse,” Hosein
said. Hosein questioned why Young was checking on the blasting licence,
as he noted that such did not fall under the purview of his then-ministry.
“Blasting permits are issued under the Occupational Safety and Health Act
(OSH Act) by the Police Commissioner with advice from the chief factory
inspector. The Ministry of National Security has no role to play with
blasting permits,” Hosein said.
Photo: San Juan/Barataria MP Saddam Hosein at the UNC’s press conference at the party headquarters in Chaguanas, yesterday. PICTURE VASHTI SINGH