Opposition MP Dr Roodal Moonilal has threatened legal action against the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) for publishing a statement on the misappropriation of $39.6 million in funds on construction projects in his Oropouche East constituency.
Moonilal denies such projects were undertaken in his constituency, adding Cepep had their information wrong.
In the full page statement in the press yesterday, Cepep noted that the company had discovered misappropriation of funds to the tune of $39.6 million spent in Moonilal’s constituency.
“In a clear deviation from its mandate, Cepep constructed the Bunsee Trace Community Centre at a cost of $30 million. The Cepep company also spent $6.9 million on the construction of box drains in the constituency, in the months leading up to the 2015 general election,” the statement explained.
Cepep said that “illegal spending contributed to more than ten per cent of the company’s $300 million debt inherited by the current board and management.” Cepep reported to Moonilal since he was the then line minister.
However, it was later discovered by the T&T Guardian that the Bunsee Trace Community Centre, located at Penal Rock Road, fell within the Siparia constituency of Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Employees at two constituency offices, Oropouche East and Oropouche West, confirmed that the centre was in Persad-Bissessar’s constituency. An employee at the Siparia office also confirmed that the centre exists in Siparia.
Told that Moonilal had threatened to take Cepep to court for defamation of character and that such projects were not constructed in his constituency, Cepep chairman, Trevor Lynch, in a text message, said he had “no response.”
In a follow up text message, however, Lynch asked who built the centre.
“Did Cepep build it? In which constituency?” he asked.
When the T&T Guardian enquired from Lynch under which constituency the construction projects fell, he advised we speak with Moonilal. Lynch also did not respond when asked if the centre was constructed in Persad-Bissessar’s constituency.
In 2012, then minister of community development Winston “Gypsy” Peters announced to constituents that a spanking-new and environmentally-friendly community centre would be built in Bunsee Trace, Penal.
In an exchange of WhatsApp messages yesterday, Moonilal expressed outrage at Cepep’s erroneous statement, insisting that the State-owned company was spending taxpayers’ money on advertisements that were inaccurate and damaging.
“Is this value for money? I intend to report the matter to the board of the Integrity Commission and the Auditor General,” he said.
“You can write with 100 per cent accuracy it (centre) is not in Oropouche East. Now they now have to pay for another advertisement to correct their misleading and mischievous advertisements. I expect a public apology or I will sue them for defamation. I will see them in court. I have already consulted with my lawyers.”
Asked in whose constituency the centre falls, Moonilal said: “Not Oropouche East. Ask Cepep.”
He also did not identify who were the contractors of the project.