The Opposition is questioning the haste with which the State-owned Urban Development Corporation of T&T (Udecott) honoured a $.4 million bill in the name of its chairman’s nephew.
Kerwyn Garcia, the husband of Senate President Christine Kangaloo, is the junior counsel for Udecott where his uncle Noel Garcia is the current chairman. His father is Arima MP Anthony Garcia.
The Opposition has also questioned whether a conflict of interest has arisen with Garcia (K) representing a state enterprise when his uncle is in fact the chairman of the entity.
Contacted for comment yesterday Garcia (N) described the opposition’s claims as “ridiculous.”
A pro forma invoice dated February 2 allegedly from Garcia’s (K) office valued at $431,249.96 was submitted for work in the matter of Sunway Construction (Caribbean) Limited v Udecott.
The claim number, CV 2013-4945 (claim number 2013-04945), represents Garcia’s (K) “trial fee on brief” as a junior counsel.
According to the description on the invoice the money is owed to Garcia (K) for “assisting Senior Counsel in preparing for and advancing such submissions and appearing together with Senior Counsel at such court attendances as are necessary in relation to evidential objections; assisting Senior Counsel with all pre-trial preparation (including conferences with the client with instructing attorney and Senior Counsel and with witnesses); attendance together with Senior Counsel at the two-day trial (including opening submissions, examination in chief, cross-examination, written closing submissions).”
The amount of $431,249.96 owed to Garcia represents a payment of $383,333.29 and 12.5 per cent Value Added Tax.
On February 3, the day after Garcia is alleged to have submitted the invoice, Udecott produced cheque #0018976 drawn on First Citizens Bank Limited as payment to him.
According to Udecott’s “Purchase Requisition” form the payment to Garcia was processed on February 12.
Garcia: I don’t interfere with
management of the state enterprise
The Sunday Guardian contacted Garcia (N) for a comment on the situation.
Garcia (N) stated he is not an “executive chairman” of Udecott and as such does not interfere with the day-to-day management of the state enterprise.
“If Udecott procured the services of a senior counsel to fight a matter and the senior counsel chose Kerwyn Garcia to be his junior counsel how does that become my business or the management’s business, who a senior counsel chooses to be his junior? So that is the first thing, it is so ridiculous,” Garcia (N) said.
“I am neither chairman of the tenders committee or a managing director, I am a chairman. The second thing is that his (Kerwyn’s) cheque was prepared in a day. I called the senior legal manager and she denies that, she says his cheque went through the normal processes and she does not know where the Opposition got that from.
“But you know what I find even more concerning is that they seem to be equating their behaviour with my behaviour. I don’t interfere with the day-to-day runnings of Udecott. I carry no brief for anybody, I have gone into Udecott and as far as I am concerned once somebody is competent to do a job let them do their job,” he said.
Garcia (N) said since he became Udecott’s chairman he has not fired “any single manager.”
“Because I am not interested in their politics. I am interested in their competence. If we continue going down this road where we are blacklisting people and people are not supposed to work because they belong to a particular political party Trinidad and Tobago will be a very sorry place in the future, a very, very sorry place,” he said.
PNM chairman: No comment
The People’s National Movement (PNM), meanwhile, is remaining silent on claims that Garcia was paid within one day by the company after submitting an invoice for over $431,000.
Speaking to the media following the party’s general council meeting yesterday, party chairman Franklin Khan said Government matters were not discussed at the party level.
The invoice that Garcia submitted was for assisting a senior counsel.
Khan said, “I have no comment on that. It is a Udecott matter, it wasn’t discussed at the general council. We are particular where party matters as they relate to Government matters and there is a division clearly marked in the Constitution and the law.”