Warner, Panday fear UDeCOTT has time to "cover tracks"

Jack Warner says there appears to be a cover-up plot at UDeCOTT. And Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday is demanding that all UDeCOTT documents be frozen, adding that the 2009 scheduled start for the probe into UDeCOTT gives the company enough time to clear its tracks.

"I believe the announcement…that this enquiry will take place in 2009 is a plan to give UDeCOTT time to clean its books and therefore the Commission of Enquiry is being tainted, however, I do hope that it will be an enquiry with forensic ability to trace documents and to find out what really takes place in UDeCOTT," Panday told the Trinidad Express.

"This Government does not want this enquiry at all and will delay for as long as possible and will give UDeCOTT all the time in the world to wash its books and to wash its hands," Panday said.

The former prime minister didn’t offer any comments on the British chairman of the probe, Professor John Uff, saying he "never heard of him before and therefore it will be unfair of me to be critical of him without knowing him and what he is capable of and what is qualifications are."

But he said he hopes the other members will be local people who understand the industry here and "who know about the kind of corruption that takes place here".

Panday’s colleague, Chaguanas MP Jack Warner, also sounded an alarm.

He also slammed government noting that the delaying tactics appeared to be the brainchild of the PNM since Professor Uff had a history of "expeditious dispatch of arbitration proceedings".

In a news release, Warner gave examples of the professor's work. "Sitting in an Australian tribunal in the case of Anaconda Operations Proprietary Ltd versus Fluor Australia Proprietary Limited, Professor Uff employed the 'stop clock' approach involving expediting witness testimony and evidence, and was able to complete the enquiry in six weeks, which may have otherwise lasted 18 months in Court."

The UNC-A MP added: "In his report into the Southwall Railway Accident in 1997, Professor Uff is quoted as saying, 'It is also anticipated that some degree of expedition would be introduced into the criminal proceedings to reflect the obvious conflict of public interest resulting from the delay to the start of the enquiry'."

Warner added: "In the instant case, Professor Uff was critical of the delays associated with the commencement of criminal investigations following the major rail accident in London".

Warner called the timeline given by Works Minister Colm Imbert for the completion of the Enquiry "interference" with a Commission appointed by the President, whose duties and responsibilities are enshrined in law. He scoffed at remarks that certain procedural matters such as finding accomodation would take months to complete.

"This apparent desire to dictate the pace of the COE, to impose a time table and to further delay the beginning of hearings, have fuelled perceptions that something is terribly wrong at UDeCOTT and that an unprecedented cover-up is in the making.

"The delay in the announcement of the COE, the failure to expedite basic procedural formalities for its commencement and the prescription of a protracted and time-consuming process is an affront to the principles of natural justice and the rule of law.

"It is a typical PNM display of flippant disregard to proper governance and equity before the law and a further reflection of their perpetual yearning to control all independent machinations of the State", Warner said.

Read Prof. Uff's profile and case history