TT Government must probe Carl Khan's allegation

An editorial in the Guardian newspaper urges the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to probe allegations presented to the Uff commission of inquiry into UDeCOTT and the construction sector by businessman Carl Khan.

Khan presented sworn testimony and documentation to show that he is the former husband of Sherrine Hart, spouse of the current executive chairman of UDeCOTT. He also made a connection between the Harts family members and companies that have been awarded multi-million dollar contracts in Trinidad and Tobago.

Last week lawyers for UDeCOTT decided they won't cross-examine Khan, leaving his testimony unchallenged and without any attempt at rebuttal. The popular view was that cross-examination would have inevitably lead to Mrs Hart to take the stand and that Khan himself would have revealed much more than he previously did.

Many people, including legal commentators, saw that as an admission of guilt. the lawyers disagreed, saying that they felt that "any further examination of Khan was unlikely to produce anything of evidential value and would only serve to fuel irrelevant and scandalous speculation into the personal affairs of the Hart family."

The Guardian said, "As to how the law interprets such unchallenged statements, whether they are automatically taken as truth or whether they can be discredited, is, in the first instance, for Prof John Uff and his commission to decide. However, most assuredly, the population will also have its say on the merits or demerits of the Hart approach."

The editorial stated, "Government certainly is mandated by the circumstances to find out if indeed there was and continues to be this familial link between Mr Hart’s wife and senior executives of the Malaysian company.

"It is absolutely insufficient for the Prime Minister of T&T to dismiss the contentions of the former husband of Mrs Hart with the claim that it was the response of a “jilted lover.” A Prime Minister and his Government cannot operate on that basis...

"If the allegation of familial ties is proven, Mr Hart would have some questions to answer about the testimony which he swore, with his hand placed on a Bible, would be the truth," the paper said.

Read the editorial: Gov't must probe Khan's allegations