“It was all Mrs Bumble. She would do it,” urged Mr Bumble; first looking round, to ascertain that his partner had left the room. That is no excuse,” returned Mr Brownlow. “You were present on the occasion of the destruction of these trinkets, and, indeed, are the more guilty of the two, in the eye of the law; for the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction. “If the law supposes that,” said Mr Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is an a** — an idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eye may be opened by experience — by experience.” (Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist).
In T&T, the law may indeed be an equus asinus. The headline in the T&T Guardian of Friday November 15, 2019 announces that the Piarco preliminary inquiry with respect to fraud charges arising out of the construction of the $1.6 billion Piarco International Airport has to restart. This unfortunate situation arose because of the retirement of former Senior Magistrate Ejenny Espinet without completion of the matter. The Court rejected arguments from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that Section 23(8) of the Indictable Offences (Preliminary Enquiry) Act 2005 could have been utilised to have the matters sent for trial to the High Court, on the basis that the case began in May 2004 when the defendants were first charged, while the legislation in question came into effect in 2005. There could be no retroactive application. So over 15 years on or 5,000 plus days after charges were laid, the matters are now to be restarted as a preliminary inquiry.
Many Trinbagonians are not even aware of what the matters are about as it has long since faded from memory. Indeed, I posed a question to my class on the Piarco issue and only two per cent expressed some knowledge. To recount, these matters arose out of one of the many unsavoury episodes in our history as it pertains to white-collar crimes. The firm of Birk-Hillman, won the contract under the former United National Congress (UNC) government, to design and construct the new $1.6 billion Piarco Airport Terminal building. Ronald Birk and co-owner, Eduardo Hillman-Waller of the firm Birk-Hillman has already faced United States justice which included a plea bargain in January 2007 with jail time and restitution to the government of T&T of US$4 million. Paltry compensation for a matter that involved allegations of fraud in excess of US$21 million (at current exchange rate). In T&T, Steve Ferguson, Ish Galbaransingh, Amrith Maharaj, Brian Kuei Tung, Sadiq Baksh, Ameer Edoo, Tyrone Gopee and Peter Cateau were all charged. So the US investigated the corruption allegations as it involved the breach of US laws and US justice was swift.
How can we have a rule of law where cases allegedly involving mass fraud meander through our judicial system until lost in the mist of time? Of course, there are many that would ignore the consequences of such matters not being expeditiously resolved. A Whatsapp message was forwarded to me containing an alleged posting on Facebook by a person with the name Devant Maharaj. It states: “The Rowley Administration has yet lost another court matter in as many days. This time the State has lost against Ish, Steve, and Brian et al and has to pay their legal costs! Yet again!” The person identifying himself as Devant Maharaj conveniently ignores the fact that this whole fiasco occurred under the UNC government between 1995 to 2000. The person ignores the fact that it was under the UNC-led People’s Partnership that there was an attempt with the infamous Section 34 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act, to procure the dismissal of certain charges in situations where trials had not commenced within 10 years. The person seems unaware of the fact that the Piarco Airport matters are being managed by the Office of the DPP. Section 90(6) of the Constitution of T&T, clearly states that functions of the Director of Public Prosecutions may be exercised by him/her in person or through other persons acting under and in accordance with his/her general or special instructions. There is no constitutional mandate for the powers of the DPP to be exercised by the Attorney General. Such allegations can only exist in the world of Mr Bumble.
Rather than the mindless political gloating on social media at the state of the legal proceedings involving the construction of the Piarco Airport, the people responsible for this debacle should adorn themselves with robes of shame and apologise to the children of this nation for abuse of their birth right. Of course this is wishful thinking and it is best perhaps to follow this sordid saga with the attitude of our newly minted Honorary Doctor of Laws, former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday whose government gave us this never-ending saga, “When it finish, wake me up.”