Parliament descended into a heated exchange yesterday as both the Government and Opposition MPS called for members from the opposing benches to be referred to the Privileges Committee over allegedly misleading the House.
However, the accused Members of Parliament later apologised to the House of Representatives.
San Juan/Barataria MP and Minister of Legal Affairs and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Saddam Hosein, raised a complaint against former minister of finance Colm Imbert, accusing him of making a misleading legal claim to stifle debate on the controversial Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA) Repeal Bill last Friday.
Hosein argued that Imbert, by citing Standing Order 49 and declaring that the matter was sub judice, had misled the House since the Court of Appeal had already struck down the case in question earlier this year.
“This motion is grounded in the fact that the member for Diego Martin North/East deliberately misled this honourable House, this Speaker, and by extension, the viewing public of Trinidad and Tobago as he knew or ought to have known the statement he made was a deliberate untruth, false and incorrect,” Hosein stated.
Imbert later rose to the floor and noted that he had not received any status report on the matter before the debate.
“This is what caused me to believe and state in good faith that the appeal was still alive, especially since the status of the appeal had not been reported or published anywhere, and in our jurisdiction, it is commonplace that appeals of this nature to take several years to be heard and determined,” Imbert said.
Imbert issued an apology.
“I wish to unreservedly apologise for my misstatement in the House on Friday, June 30th, 2024 regarding the status of civil appeal 268 of 2022.”
During the sitting, the political tit-for-tat continued as Arouca/Lopinot MP Marvin Gonzales rose to file a complaint against Toco/Sangre Grande MP and Minister of Defence, Wayne Sturge.
Gonzales accused Sturge of intentionally misleading the Standing Finance Committee on Monday by stating that former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi was the owner of Agra Court, a building rented by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
Gonzales insisted that the claim was factually incorrect and defamatory.
“I served as minister of national security in the last government and also served as a member of the National Security Council for several years and had full access to cabinet notes, minutes, reports and notes relative to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and so I would have been aware of any rental of any property by Senator Faris Al-Rawi, SC, to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service,” Gonzales charged.
Sturge clarified that he did not refer to legal ownership.
Instead, he maintained that Al-Rawi had a “beneficial interest” in the building through family ties.
“The building is in fact, owned by the father-in-law and wife of Faris Al-Rawi, so that Faris Al-Rawi and for those who understand the law, Faris Al-Rawi has a beneficial interest in that property.”
Sturge reiterated that his original statement was not about formal legal ownership, but about the connection between the property’s beneficiaries and the former minister.
“Senator Faris Al-Rawi is the beneficial owner, so to that extent I apologise for not giving the strict interpretation.”
House Speaker Jagdeo Singh acknowledged both matters and deferred judgement, noting that he would issue formal rulings at a later date.