UDeCOTT more powerful than T&T cabinet

The Executive Chairman of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad &Tobago (UDeCOTT), Calder Hart, takes the witness stand Tuesday at the Uff enquiry into the construction sector and UDeCOTT. And commission chairman John Uff has served notice that Hart would have to reveal what he is being paid.

During Monday's hearing UDeCOTT's attorney successfully objected to getting the corporation's CEO Neelanda Rampaul to reveal her compensation package. Uff then served notice that it would be different with Hart.

“We are interested in the complete financial package for employers and particularly directors of UDeCOTT, including all benefits and perks that go with the various offices they hold,” Uff said.

Hart’s attorney Frank Solomon advised the commission that all UDeCOTT's directors are required by law to declare their assets to the Integrity Commission and they did so in confidence. But that was not good enough for Uff.

"We will consider what we will do about the information and, indeed, whether we will accept it in confidence but I simply wanted you to be on notice that questions of that sort will be put to Mr Calder Hart," the chairman stated. He explained further: "We’re not interested in his personal wealth, we’re interested in the package of remuneration, including bonuses and other benefits, that go with the office.”

During Monday's hearing, commissioner Israel Khan suggested to Rampaul that UDeCOTT is more powerful than the Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago.

Khan: “You know you could sell guns?”
Rampaul: “In law, yes, under the terms and the objects.”
Khan: “And ammunition?...You could even sell disinfectant and provisions and agricultural produce, guns, rifles, revolvers, ammunition.”
Rampaul: “Yes.”

Rampaul told the enquiry while the line minister for UDeCOTT could issue directives to UDeCOTT, its board didn’t have to comply with them. And she said further that the board does not necessarily have to accept the directives of the Prime Minister and/or Cabinet.

Khan noted that such rules allow UDeCOTT to do almost anything in this country and wondered if it could engage in “producing pumpkin and bhaggi to getting into gas and oil. They could do that?”

Rampaul told him, “Yes, from a strict legal point of view, the company has that discretion.” That prompted the commissioner to ask if UDeCOTT is more powerful than the Cabinet since it has the power to get into the gas and oil business and also “lend money to anybody, millions of dollars, without any security.”

Again Rampaul agreed: “From a strict legal point of view, yes. The company has that discretion.”

Khan: “And it also could engage with outside (foreign) governments and other states. It seems to me that this company is more powerful than the Cabinet of this country...You are not required in law to take directions from the prime minister, a line minister and the Cabinet. Isn’t that so?”
Rampaul: “In law, yes.”

The Brian Lara Stadium was also the focus of testimony Monday. When the government announced the project in 2005, the cost was put $275 million. Two years later then sports minister Roger Boynes revised it to $558 million.

Now, with no completion date in sight, Rampaul gave the enquiry a cost of $700 million. And she confirmed that Hafeez Karamath Ltd received $125 million in advance payments even before signing a contract with UDeCOTT in October 2006.

Rampaul said UDeCOTT is going to lose money on the project, stating that "we are funding the stadium to a certain extent."

She made the statements under cross examination by Senior Counsel Gilbert Peterson, the lead attorney for former housing minister Keith Rowley. When asked for a specific figure Rampaul said she believes the final cost would be "in the 700 range". She appeared unsure about the $700 million figure and told Peterson she may have her figures mixed up.