Finance Minister Larry Howai has written to Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London requesting information on the Build Own Lease Transfer (BOLT) arrangement for the $143 million Milshirv THA administration complex in southwest Tobago, the THA said yesterday.

In a statement, the THA said Howai sent a letter via facsimile to the Office of the Chief Secretary yesterday that specifically requested:

1. Details of the funding accessed by the THA for the payment of the purchase for the price of the land for $12 million

2. Details of and all documents relating to the proposed construction of the office complex and its financing, including without limitations, details of and documents pertaining to any BOLT arrangement the THA has entered or proposed to enter in respect to same.

The statement said Howai asked the Assembly to provide the requested information within seven days "as this matter has been the subject of much public disquiet and discussion and my Ministry has no knowledge of same".

The THA said London received the letter just before he was to address the media at a conference at the Calder Hall Administrative Complex, Scarborough, to give details of the BOLT arrangement.

London said he wanted to make it clear that his administration had no problem in making the information available to the Government. But, he said, based on what had transpired over the past two months with Government members and their colleagues in Tobago placing into the public domain "pieces of misinformation" calculated to achieve a particular objective, "I can say we do not trust the Government."

The Assembly will therefore, in addition to giving it to the Government, make the information public "so the people of Tobago can judge for themselves".