“A blatant lie!”
That’s how Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan has described last Wednesday’s testimony by Port Authority of T&T CEO Charmaine Lewis before the Joint Select Committee (JSC) into the sea bridge.
Outraged by Lewis’ inaccurate statement, Sinanan sent JSC chairman Stephen Creese a letter yesterday “debunking” her claims and putting the facts on the table.
In giving evidence, Lewis had raised concerns over Sinanan’s instruction to now suspended T&T Inter-Island Transportation Company Ltd CEO Leon Grant to inspect the “barge”—the Trinity Transporter—even before the port’s evaluation process for a cargo vessel began.
Lewis told the JSC Sinanan had told Grant he thought the barge would be “suitable” and the owner wanted US$12,000 a day but that he (Grant) should beat them down to US$8,000.
“That conversation took place before the evaluation and the formal submission of the barge to the Port,” Lewis told the JSC.
In defending his name yesterday, however, Sinanan said he felt compelled to “debunk the nonsense Lewis spoke” about.
“Charmaine Lewis just made a fool of herself by going there, in my opinion, and to say a whole set of things that were not true,” Sinanan said in a telephone interview.
He said his instruction to Grant was “to look at everything that was available in our waters, which included the Coast Guard vessels, because there was no board in place at the time since it was an emergency. I never said to go and look at the barge.”
He said after viewing several vessels, the port told the ministry the Atlantic Provider and Trinity Transporter were the most suitable vessels.
“I can’t tell them it suitable because I don’t know anything about barges or cargo vessels. So all that is a blatant lie.”
Sinanan said Lewis’ testimony “was so conniving it gives the impression that I told them to look at the barge and Atlantic Provider alone. They went that day with a purpose. They couldn’t find anything on the minister and couldn’t do anything. I have no doubt that somewhere along there…there was some collusion with some members of that JSC to put something there. And if there was a board in place at the time of the contract, what place the minister has?”
He also admitted he has sceptical about the port’s management.
Sinanan noted that PATT vice chairman Adrian Beharry, in his testimony to the JSC, admitted to negotiating for the barge.
Also contacted yesterday, David Brash, who was awarded a three-month contract by the port for the Trinity Transporter, denied being a friend of Sinanan’s or working in collusion with him.
“I met (Sinanan) once and that was after we made the offer to the port. I don’t know him personally,” Brash said, adding two rates were offered to the port board.
“If you rent the barge for a day or up to seven days it is US$12,000 a day. If you rent it beyond that its daily rate is US$ 8,500. Our offer was in writing. All that was negotiated was a deduction of US$500 off the US$8,500, which was done by Beharry.”
The barge, which Brash said was underutilised, worked for 85 days. He said Lewis was”misinformed” and described her testimony “erroneous,” adding the allegations had painted a bad picture for his organisation and vessel.
Asked if he would go before the JSC to clear the air and defend his company, Brash said he saw no reason to do so since they did not do anything wrong.
“If they say we in some sort of corruption or collusion we would defend that. I would certainly send my lawyer a note. We will take it from that point of view.”
Brash said the day the barge pulled into Port-of-Spain was the first time he met Grant.