Former Educational Facilities Company Limited (EFCL) chairman Arnold Piggott says he is now ready to “break my silence” and will appear before Parliament’s Joint Select Committee looking into issues at the entity he once chaired. His appearance before the committee, he said yesterday, are for the same reasons he resigned from the EFCL, “in the interest of “the protection of my reputation and family name.”
Piggott came under fire on Monday when he failed to attend a JSC meeting on the EFCL, with JSC chairman David Small warning a summons would be issued for Piggott to attend the next hearing.
Yesterday, Small told the T&T Guardian if Piggott fails to appear when the summons is served “there are options available,” but declined to go into details. But he said he remains optimistic Piggott will appear.
“We have all sorts of documents saying things went awry. The time period is under the watch of the former chairman, he is critical to say what happened here. We don’t understand what the drama is about, these things, it is alleged, fell under your watch,” Small said.
He said the committee’s work is dependent on “parties against whom things have been said. We have one side of the story, it is difficult to come to a conclusion without hearing the other side.”
The summons is expected to be sent before the end of the week once JSC members agree on a date for the next hearing.
Parliament sources told the Guardian it is the first time that both houses of Parliament have invoked the power contained in the standing orders of the Senate and the House of Representatives to command that someone appear before the Committee.
Calls to Piggott’s mobile phone went unanswered yesterday, but in an earlier interview with i95.5FM he said he felt it “prudent to consider attending the next meeting of the inquiry,” given the “misinformation in the public domain arising from the inquiry.” He said he wanted to remove the speculation surrounding the EFCL and “me personally” and is hoping that when he appears before the inquiry he will be given “appropriate leeway to vent.” He added, however, that any summons for him to appear, he said, will be dealt with by his attorneys.
Former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh yesterday said while the JSC must be “heartily commended for its decision to summon Mr. Piggott to its next meeting,” it was “disgraceful” that Piggott’s decision not the attend took place “in the midst of revelations that the board of directors he headed had overstepped its boundaries and interfered in the day-to-day operations of EFCL and was involved in improprieties pertaining to procurement.” He said Piggott’s resignation last June “took place after major allegations of irregularities. Attorney General Faris Al- Rawi had previously summoned a meeting of the Board of Directors amidst the serious claims.”