T&T gov't fires UDeCOTT board; AG sends Uff report to DPP, CoP

Trinidad and Tobago Attorney General John Jeremie on Tuesday laid in the Senate the Uff report on the commission of inquiry into UDeCOTT and the construction sector and promised that the government will act on the recommendations.

He said cabinet is considering all 91 recommendations and that Prime Minister Patrick Manning has directed that steps be taken to immediately begin implementing some of them.

One immediate move is to fire members of the UDeCOTT board, except for the recently appointed chairman Jearlean John.

Jeremie also said an oversight committee has already taken action in respect of a criminal probe into the MLA Towers and the Tarouba development.

He said the Uff report has made recommendations for further steps to be taken that may be of a criminal nature and added that those recommendations must be very seriously considered by the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

He also told the Senate that he has sent a copy of the report and its recommendations to the director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Commissioner of Police (CoP).

Jeremie also announced that he will ask for a full forensic audit into all aspects of the Cleaver Heights Project "in order to determine exactly who was liable for the myriad discrepancies, irregularities, grave errors of judgement, unexplained oversights omissions, complete lack of security for payments already made to NHIC in excess of $140 million, poor workmanship, lax management of this project."

Jeremie said the next step in the process is not necessarily the laying of criminal charges. He said it is determined that there has been any criminal wrongdoing the government would expect that "the responsible authorities would lay charges and pursue prosecutions in our Courts of Law and these matters will be dealt with in a robust fashion."

The attorney general assured the Senate that the Manning government is committed to the eradication of corruption.

"The establishment of this Inquiry and the immediate laying of this Report, is the first step in ensuring the transparency necessary to deal with the issue of corruption," he said.

However, he pointed out that the role of a Commission of Inquiry (C.O.I.) is to determine the facts as best as it can and to make recommendations in accordance with its terms of reference.

"If in determining what the facts are the Commission is of the view that a criminal act may have been perpetrated, as they are in this case, or a civil wrong has been committed, it may recommend that a criminal investigation should be conducted or civil action should be initiated. This they have done," he said.

Jeremie said the Manning government is satisfied with the report and believes that the recommendations will bring greater value to the management of construction projects.

"The Government intends to advise the national community over time as the recommendations are implemented in consultation with key stakeholders," he said.