UDeCOTT moves to end Uff probe, stop report

A report in the Sunday Express says UDeCOTT is trying to permanently shut down the Commission of Enquiry into the construction sector and to frustrate any possibility of the Commissioners being able to produce a report and present conclusions.

UDeCOTT is under extreme pressure and has been the centre of focus at the probe so far, with serious allegations about breaching procurement rules and operating "as a law unto itself".

The report says the state company has prepared a 36-page claim and a 57-page affidavit in support of its action.

IF UDeCOTT succeeds it would be an affront to Attorney General John Jeremie, who told the Parliament earlier this month that Government has a "solemn duty" to protect and salvage the Commission.

Jeremie said Government would "take all legitimate steps to regularise this situation so that the commissioners may complete their assigned task on behalf of the people of Trinidad and Tobago".

He said the commissioners had devoted a significant amount of time to the collection of evidence and other material, and the Government had invested over $30 million on the commission.

He added that the public is entitled to legitimately expect a full report and recommendations, and persons who have made allegations and about whom allegations have been made, are entitled to have a determination of the issues one way or the other.

He insisted that the full terms of reference of the commission would be gazetted, along with an amendment to allow commissioners to use the evidence and other information collected during the course of the hearings.

In that context he pledged "as a matter of urgency" to introduce a Validation Act "to give statutory underpinning to the previous acts of the commission".

But according to the Express, UDeCOTT is moving to pre-empt everything, including the legitimacy of the act.

When Jeremie made the announcement in Parliament he said government was guided by three principles:

• the respect for the rule of law and the principles of transparency
• a respect for the principles protective of the rights of persons alleged to be wrong-doers
• the necessity of the State to do what is right by the people at all times

But UDeCOTT is basing its legal objections on the non-gazetting of the Commission.

The Express says UDeCOTT reportedly received legal advice from British QC Geoffrey Robertson that nothing can be done to cure the legal defect of the Commission not having been gazetted at the start of the proceedings.

According to the Express, UDeCOTT is seeking an order prohibiting commissioners from holding any further hearings of the "purported" Commission of Enquiry.

UDeCOTT is also seeking an order to have the commissioners surrender all data provided to them by UDeCOTT.

This is a challenge to an order given by the president on Sept. 14 directing the commission to use records and documents gathered since the start of proceedings on Sept, 9, 2008, to September 11, 2009, the date on which hearings were suspended.

UDeCOTT also wants the commission to expunge from its website all documents provided to them by UDeCOTT on the grounds that former commissioner Israel Khan had a racial bias against UDeCOTT's executive chairman, Calder Hart and that commissioner Kenneth Sirju, who also quit, also showed bias.