HOR Speaker rules in Kamla's favour; Kamla has more questions for Karen

“I rule that the matter referred to me does not constitute a prima facie case of breach of privilege warranting its referral to the committee of Privileges.”

That ruling from House of Representatives Speaker Barendra Sinanan Friday closed the Government's bid to take Siparia MP Kamla Persad Bissessar before the House committee for alleging that Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira acted on privileged information and withdrew her funds from CL Bank just before its collapse in January.

Last week Government House Colm Imbert asked the Speaker to make a ruling on the matter saying Persad-Bissessar’s remarks suggested the minister had committed a criminal offence by using insider information for personal gain without producing any evidence to support the claim.

But Sinanan disagreed. He said members have a duty to expose anything in the nature of corruption on the part of other members. He agreed that they must not do it by making veiled suggestions in the course of debate but added that a dispute between two members about questions of fact uttered in debate does not constitute a valid question of privilege because it is a matter of debate.

“In the instant case, I believe the Minister of Finance has properly and adequately responded to the allegations made against her by the MP for Siparia.”

The UNC Deputy Leader said Sinanan’s ruling is appropriate in all the circumstances. “The ruling is appropriate in all the circumstances. However, the Minister clearly admitted that monies were withdrawn before the CL bailout. However, also, she has denied using insider information. Be that as it may, the explanation causes more questions.

“Firstly, how many other persons requested money at the end of December and beginning of January but were not given their money? Minister Conrad Enill also said NGC had requested money and got some, but who else requested and didn’t get money? That calls for answers.

“A further question concerns monies for a car. I know in the Budget that taxes for cars were raised. Did the Minister, at the time of buying the car, know she was going to raise taxes on cars?”

"Thirdly, the Minister said she withdrew monies to purchase a property and entered an agreement of September 17 and the completion date was December 17. So how could the Minister say she requested money on December 31 when the completion date for the property was December 17? I checked the Hansard record on that,” the MP told reporters during the tea break.

Persad Bissessar said, "We believe that there must be transparency in this matter in the public interest." She added that the matter is far from closed.

This is what the Hansard record shows:

Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira: “Again, I have to defend myself. In defending myself, I bring to the attention of the honourable House, that like many people, we have accounts and make investments. I, like many people, made two investments, one a property, an apartment, and in entering into the contract to purchase that apartment, it was September 17.

"The date of completion was December 17, 2008. During that period of time, I made withdrawals, not only from CMMB, but also from other accounts that I had. I will not go into any details.

"They are free to check, as they did with the Integrity Commission. I made withdrawals on September 17, December 03 and December 17, to pay for that property."