AG Ramlogan questions $M payments to French company

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan on Tuesday questioned why the previous Government of Trinidad and Tobago made three payments to a French company a few days before the May 24 general election.

Speaking in the Senate, Ramlogan noted that UDeCOTT made the payments to Bouygues Batiment Ltd just before the election. The payments were for the Rapid Rail project.

"The timing of these payments in a mad rush to service Bouygues leads one to the irresistible and inescapable conclusion that Bouygues was in political bed with someone", Ramlogan delcared.

He said Bouygues has a history of engaging in corrupt deals and was known for "bribery, kickbacks, the misuse and abuse of company funds, collusive tendering, forgery, bid-rigging and illicit political campaign financing."

Ramlogan also noted that Bouygues is a joint venture partnership with the HCL. "And of course when you hear HCL you remember Andre Monteil, the $110 million shareholder of the Home Mortgage Bank," he said.

Related story: Transparency International highlights Monteil scandal in 2009 report on T&T

In 1998, Bouygues, one of the largest construction group in France, was the subject of a major investigation by two judges, for a scandal described as "an agreed system for misappropriation of public funds".

Bouygues and two other large companies - Suez-Lyonnaise, and Vivendi - participated in a corrupt cartel over building work for schools between 1989 and 1996.

The three groups shared contracts worth about US$500m, according to a report in the the online publication, UNICORN. The report also stated that political corruption was involved with the companies paying a levy of 2% on all contracts to finance the major political parties.

Ramlogan gave legislators details of the payments to Bouygues:

• May 14 - $3.6 million
• May 14 - $10 million
• May 19 - $5 million

He said the Manning administration made the payments "when advertising funds were running out and everybody wanted to know...where the money was coming from".

Ramlogan also told Senators UDeCOTT gave Bouygues the contract for $300 million to build nine police stations. The plan, he said, was for UDeCOTT to demolish and clear the sites and then Bouygues would go in to build.

The Attorney General as the election approached UDeCOTT chief construction engineer Hayden Paul and Brandon Primus issued a notice for the company to proceed although UDeCOTT had not cleared the sites.

"It was as though they were sensing the winds of change were imminent but they wanted to rush and shove this under the door and bind the hands of the new administration and further burden the economy," Ramlogan stated.

He said all this was happening at a time when no board or CEO was in place.

He explained that under the terms of the contract Bouygues was entitled to receive a payment of $21 million within 14 days of the notice to proceed.

However, with the project delayed because of UDeCOTT's failure to clear the site before issuing the notice to proceed, the State now has to pay Bouygues a penalty of $145,000 for each day. The figure has now passed $8 million.