Israel Khan's comments about white people is part of UDeCOTT claim of bias

The Trinidad Guardian has obtained a pre-action protocol letter, dated July 29, in which lawyers for the Urban Development Corporation of T&T (UDeCOTT) listed a number of instances in which they claim members of the Commission of Enquiry into the construction sector and UDeCOTT were biased against their client.

The legal letter asked the commissioners to recuse themselves.

Last week Thursday, former PNM minster Keith Rowley described the letter as a “naked, blatant and unvarnished attempt to derail and obstruct the Commission of Inquiry so that no report would be prepared and no conclusion drawn.”

Read the story: Rowley demands criminal proceedings against UDeCOTT's Calder Hart

But UDeCOTT responded by saying it is trying to protect itself against bias, not trying to stop the enquiry.

The Guardian reported Tuesday on the contents of the pre-action protocol which claims Commissioner Israel Khan made disparaging remarks against individuals of white, European, ancestry.

According to the Guardian the letter stated that Khan’s comments could be taken as a direct attack on UDeCOTT’s executive chairman, Calder Hart, who is Canadian by birth and of Caucasian ethnicity.

The letter claimed Khan had made similar remarks in the media.

It also took issue with Commissioner Kenneth Sirju, claiming that he was involved in a consortium of consultancies concerning a proposal for preparation of a master plan for the sports training facilities at the Brian Lara Stadium.

The UDeCOTT board decided to give the contract to another group - Turner Alpha Ltd. UDeCOTT's lawyers claim Sirju involvement in Cummings and Associates Architects (CAA), the firm that didn't get the contract, gives rise to a potential conflict of interest between his role as a commissioner.

The letter claimed that Sirju has a personal interest in the outcome of the enquiry, since the CAA might have an actionable claim for damages if it was found that UDeCOTT acted unfairly in the award of the consultancy contract.

The Guardian reported that the letter also pointed to a statement by Commission chairman John Uff claiming that UDeCOTT “were a law unto themselves.”

The latter stated, “It was particularly surprising that such a remark had been uttered by the chairman only a matter of hours after UDeCOTT had applied for the recusal of Commissioner Khan, on account of the appearance of bias resulting from his intemperate interrogation of (Udecott’s legal adviser Neelanda) Rampaul and Mr Hart.”

The letter stated that Uff’s subsequent statements of clarification on the matter did not remove the impression of bias.