Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is calling for an urgent, independent probe into the decision by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi to discontinue legal proceedings against former executive chairman of Petrotrin Malcolm Jones.
The billion dollar case was for negligence over the company’s failed low sulphur diesel plant was brought against Jones under former attorney general Anand Ramlogan. The decision to stop the case was based partly on an opinion from Vincent Nelson, QC, the lead attorney in the case. Jones was subsequently awarded more than $2 million in legal costs.
“We therefore demand an independent inquiry into this matter urgently,” Persad-Bissessar said at yesterday’s UNC Women’s Arm meeting at Rienzi Complex, Couva.
Persad-Bissessar said: “If Al-Rawi is serious about an objective and independent investigation into his conduct, we challenge him to disclose all documents related to this matter to the Parliament for a full and frank debate in the public interest.”
Al-Rawi said previously that he had already handed over the document to the Law Association for examination. Persad-Bissessar also said another option was for the Prime Minister “to appoint a Commission of Enquiry, chaired by a respected and independent jurist, to examine the facts in this matter and report to the public via the President.
“This is a serious matter involving over a billion dollars that went down the drain.” She said Queen’s Counsel’s opinion was deficient. Persad-Bissessar said “none of the documentary evidence was given to QC Nelson but there were expert witness reports filed by at least three different firms.”
She also spoke on the retrenchment of workers across the country in the past two weeks, including the termination of employment for hundreds of employees at ArcelorMittal in Point Lisas.
“This is a most serious development and has implications for thousands of workers and their families,” she said. She said Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus had “failed miserably as she has sat back as a silent spectator and let the situation deteriorate.”
The UNC leader said it was “disheartening that she did not even have a proper handle on the number of persons who have lost their jobs but depended only on reports of retrenchment notices to her office as she revealed in Parliament.”
And Persad-Bissessar also criticised Rowley for his statement on the issue of job losses at the steel plant.
“Instead of being a problem solver and facilitator, the Prime Minister is attacking investors and sending a very dangerous message to the world about how we as a country treat with foreign investment,” the Opposition Leader said.
She called on the Government to immediately engage the company and the unions. Also, Persad-Bissessar called for the Government to bring legislative proposals to ensure workers are placed high on the totem pole of creditors to be satisfied in the event of insolvency of a company, as is done in other parts of the world.