A LETTER from Margaret Rose, an attorney representing Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley in the Commission of Enquiry into the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) and the construction sector, may have been what led to the discovery that the commission had not been published in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette.

Rose wrote the commission’s secretariat on September 1 seeking clarification on its legal standing. This means the commission received Rose’s letter last week Tuesday, which is three days before the date its lead attorney, Seenath Jairam, SC, said he and its secretary, Judith Gonzalez, had discovered that the commission was not published in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette as required by the Commission of Enquiry Act.

A copy of Rose’s letter shows that she had addressed it to Gonzalez.

In her letter, Rose wrote: ’In light of the numerous and now escalating attempts by parties to the subject proceedings, seeking to challenge the ability of the commission to carry on its duties, out of an abundance of caution, we request confirmation that the commission has sought the relevant ratification of the President of Trinidad and Tobago for the Commission as presently constituted to continue its work, pursuant to section 3 of the Commission of Enquiry Act Chapter 19.01.’

The Express reported yesterday that Jairam said he had been seeking information on the quorum required for the commission and other legal issues when he and Gonzalez made the startling discovery. It was last Friday that he and Gonzalez discovered the commission was not gazetted.

’Anticipating some kind of challenge from one or other of the parties, we made enquiries and discovered this thing had not been gazetted and this was only on Friday,’ Jairam said.

He told the Express he had asked about the gazetting of the commission as soon as he was appointed as its lead counsel last December.

’I was told they assumed so but that was overtaken by events,’ Jairam said, without identifying who ’they’ were.

He said he had called Commissioner Prof John Uff, QC, last Saturday and informed him of the development, after working with his junior counsel confirming the matter late into Friday night.