“The longer this wears on, the more taxpayers’ money will be wasted.”
So says the Maritime Financial Group in an advertisement published in today’s newspaper, in response to Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard’s statement he is reconsidering if to reinstate legal proceedings against those accused of fraud in the construction of the Piarco International Airport.
On Monday, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council quashed the 2008 committal order made by former chief magistrate Sherman McNicolls in the Piarco Airport One matter, describing his conduct as “reprehensible” and “hopelessly compromised.”
On Wednesday, Gaspard issued a statement saying options were still open to him in the matter .
“This, however, is not the end of the matter but for the accused persons to be brought to trial, there would have to be either a new preliminary inquiry or the preferment of a Voluntary Bill of Indictment, pursuant to Section 23 (8) (d) of the Preliminary Enquiries Act, Chap 11:02 which facilitates the by-passing of the preliminary inquiry stage, in cases involving serious complex fraud,” Gaspard stated.
But Maritime says continuing to pursue the legal matter would be a waste of money, “reducing the ability of Government to focus on the needs of our schools, our healthcare, our infrastructure, the true crime-fighting needs we face, and the general welfare of our nation.”
“While we at Maritime have always known the charges were without any merit, and we are gratified by this latest in a long series of judicial findings, we are saddened that this saga has dragged out for more than 20 years, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to the taxpayers of Trinidad and Tobago,” it stated.
“It has clearly not been a benefit to the citizens and taxpayers of Trinidad and Tobago to deplete the Treasury’s scarce resources on politically motivated claims rather than devoting resources to the needs of the country and its people.”
It added, “To date, not even one of the charges related to Piarco has been sustained in the legal system. Yet the Government continues with its ongoing efforts to prosecute a partisan political victory in the courts.”
Maritime said in the intervening 20-plus years since the matter began, its company secretary Barbara Gomes has endured ongoing insult to her name and reputation.
“Former Maritime CEO John Smith and former Maritime Chief Information Officer Edward Bayley have both passed away without having had the benefit of seeing their names cleared by the Privy Council,” it also noted.
“There is no adequate justification or compensation for the harm to the personal reputations of these fine people and their families. All of this in the pursuit of the narrow interests of a political vendetta carried out by a few people of influence in government.”
The charges in Piarco No 1 were laid between March 22, 2002 and June 3, 2002.
The accused were Brian Kuei Tung, Ishwar Galbaransingh, Amrith Maharaj, John Henry Smith, Northern Construction Ltd, Maritime General Insurance Co Ltd, Fidelity Finance and Leasing Co Ltd, Russell Huggins, Renee Pierre, Barbara Gomes and Steve Ferguson.