United National Congress MP Roodal Moonilal says he cannot remember off-hand the hundreds of landlords which the People’s Partnership (PP) government dealt with in property management and that he cast no aspersions on the elected MP from whom Government is currently renting property.
But Moonilal has stressed that he is concerned about the Finance Ministry’s information on the matter, since he said the Auditor General unearthed the full scope of the rentals.
On Wednesday, Moonilal revealed what he said he honestly believed to be excerpts of the Auditor General’s 2023 report that allegedly included payments of $752,000 to an elected MP (non-minister) for the rental of properties over 2023. It involved reporting of rental only by the National Security with the Finance Ministry stating “nil” for rental by other ministries, he alleged.
However, Moonilal said the Auditor General’s investigations showed that the Agriculture and Finance Ministry also rented buildings from the MP.
Toco MP Roger Monroe (PNM) subsequently said the three buildings had also been rented by the previous PP government and the PNM Government continued to rent the buildings, as the prices were up to Valuation Division standards.
Speaking to Monroe’s response yesterday, Moonilal said, “I can’t remember off hand the hundreds of landlords we dealt with in property management. The issue was never the MP and the renting of his buildings! I cast no aspersion on the MP. The issue is the (Finance) Ministry’s reports on the matter, as it was the Auditor General who unearthed the situation of other payments for rentals apart from for National Security,” he alleged. Moonilal said the Opposition will have more to say ahead on excerpts from the Auditor General’s 2023 report.