Questions surfaced last night as to whether Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had breached the Integrity in Public Life Act by employing her nephew, Richard Ahamad, in the Opposition Leader’s office.
However, Persad-Bissessar denied that she had broken any laws in a CNC3 report last night.
The news comes on the same day head of Fixin’ T&T Kirk Waithe wrote to Integrity Commission chairman Zainool Hosein calling for an investigation of the former prime minister and Opposition MPs Barry Padarath, Rushton Paray and Dr Bhoe Tewarie for reportedly employing relatives at their constituency offices.
According to Section 24 (2) of the Act, a person whose activities are governed by the Act shall not use his office for the improper advancement of his own or his family’s personal or financial interest.
Ahamad, an attorney, is employed as legal counsel at the office.
Several calls and text messages to Ahamad’s phone went unanswered yesterday while the Opposition Office stated he was in a meeting, CNC3 reported.
If Ahamad is employed at the office, then his salary would be paid by the Parliament and signed off on by Persad-Bissessar.
In response to a text message about Ahamad’s employment, which may be viewed as a breach of the Act, Persad-Bissessar responded by saying no laws had been breached and that to the best of her knowledge there was no person employed there whose work fell within any restricted categories or within the provisions of the Act, or any law or parliamentary guidelines.
“We may now all have to follow the words of the Prime Minister, re DNA testing for persons employed,” Persad-Bissessar wrote in her response to CNC3.