The UFF enquiry into the construction sector and UDeCOTT has no legal standing and chairman John Uff will announce on Monday that the public hearings will be suspended indefinitely.Sources say the commission has been operating illegally because it is in violation of the Commission of Enquiry Act of 1982, which requires all enquiries to be published in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette.
The enquiry was never gazetted. It means that the hearings that were due to resume at 9 am Monday would be shelved.
Section 15 of the Commission of Enquiry Act states: "All commissions under this Act and all revocations of any such commission, shall be published in the Gazette, and shall take effect from the date of publication."
An email from commission secretary Judith Gonzalez to all parties involved in the proceedings Saturday said:
“I am directed by the Chairman of the Commission of Enquiry into the Construction Sector to inform you that the hearing of the Commission fixed for Monday 7 September, 2009, will be adjourned until further notice.”
The probe has cost the government more than $3 million, with $2 million going to the British chairman for his services. The figure excludes fees for legal counsel.
So far the enquiry has received written evidence as well as verbal testimony from several witnesses, including Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert, Housing Minister Dr Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde, UDeCOTT executive chairman Calder Hart, other senior UDeCOTT officials and Diego Martin MP, Dr Keith Rowley, who is a former minister of housing.
The UFF probe has been controversial from the beginning and so far two commissioners have quit. The first to go was Israel Khan who admitted that he might have been biased against UDeCOTT executive chairman, Calder Hart.
Read the story: Israel Khan quits UDeCOTT probe...
The fourth round of hearings was supposed to hear additional evidence from Carl Khan about his claim that Hart's brother-in-law is a director of CH Development and Construction Ltd, which received a $368 million contract for the Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower project.
It was also supposed to examine the controversial Cleaver Heights housing project. Last September, Prime Minister Patrick Manning alleged that $10 million was missing from the project and asked Rowley for an explanation.
Rowley was housing minister when the then National Housing Authority (NHA) received the contract for the project. Rowley has maintained he knows nothing about the matter and is not guilty of any wrongdoing and produced documents to prove it.
An official who helped write a report that cleared Rowley of wrongdoing resigned shortly after the document was harshly criticized by the housing minister.
Read the story: Official whose report cleared Rowley quits HDC
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