Kamla calls for investigation of finance minister

Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Tuesday called on the Fraud Squad and the Integrity Commission to investigate Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Teschiera with regard to the bailout of Cl Financial, a company in which she holds more than 10,000 shares valued at millions of dollars.

And she called on the minister to resign forthwith. If she fails to do so, she said, then Prime Minister Patrick Manning should fire her.

In a lengthy document, the former Attorney general outlined why she believes the minister is in a conflict of interest and may have committed a criminal offence under section 5 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Persad-Bissessar said the minister is a shareholder and therefore part owner of CL Financial, the company that she decided to bailout to the tune of billions of tax payers dollars.

She said she has no reason to doubt that the minister has acted in the best interests of the country but that is not the issue.

"This matter is not about the person and how she may have acted in her heart and conscience, but rather the issue is whether what was done, or not done by the Minister as a public official is proper and in accordance with what the law of Trinidad and Tobago mandates should be done in the circumstances such as these in which the MOF finds herself.

"Indeed, the law was framed to provide for transparency and accountability on the part of persons in public life, of which the Minister of Finance is one," she said.

The MP traced the sequence of events leading to the CL bailout, pointing out the governor of the Central Bank discussed CL's financial troubles with the minister on Jan. 14 and on Jan. 30, 2009 she attended a media conference with CL Chairman Lawrence Duprey and Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams at which she announced the bailout.

At the news conference, the Governor stated, “After intense discussions over the past week, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and representatives of the CL Financial group have reached agreement on a strategy to deal with the liquidity challenges of CIB and Clico to address the underlying problems that have given rise to the current financial stress."

Persad-Bissessar noted that when the Central Bank Amendment bill was introduced in Parliament on Feb. 2 she asked whether the minister had used insider information to her benefit, a fact the minister denied in a formal statement to Parliament. However she did not disclose her shareholding in the company she was bailing out with state funds.

Persad-Bissessar charged that at no time prior to March 8 when the Trinidad Guardian broke the story about the minister's CL shareholding did the minister disclose that she held shares in the company. Subsequent reports attributed to the minister said she had disclosed her CL interests to the Integrity Commission.

The MP said Nunez-Teschiera had a legal duty to publicly disclose her shareholding in CL Financial and was legally bound to publicly disclose her dividend income from CL therefore she is in breach of the Integrity in Public Life Act.

She said the minister's disclosure that the shares were inherited from her late husband "is totally irrelevant at this time. The FACT is that the shares belong to Karen Nunez-Tesheira, the Minister of Finance–wholly and solely. She is a part owner of CL Financial. The legal title is held by the Minister and she receives the beneficial interest from it in the form of dividends".

She also revealed that there is no record at the Integrity Commission indicating that the minister declared her CL shareholding as she is required to do by law and as stated by the minister herself.

"For the record, the Minister’s declaration was checked this morning by staff from the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, and it was checked yesterday by a Newsday reporter Clint Chan Tack as well who reported his findings in today’s (Tuesday) Newsday.

"The Integrity Forms report that the Minister has shares in CIB, CMMB, Republic Bank and Scotia Bank. The Minister has NOT stated in her declarations on Form B that she has shares in CL Financial.

"In the Integrity Documents, the Minister admitted to receiving income from CMMB, Republic Bank, Scotia and CIB. Once more she has not declared the income received as dividends from CL Financial. So in these circumstances there is no ‘public record’ of the shares'." Persad Bissessar said.

"In all of the circumstances we are of the view that it is reprehensible and untenable that the MOF continue as MOF. We cannot boast of developed country status but operate as a banana Republic. In any other country, the MOF would have resigned already or been fired", she said.