Attorney General John Jeremie said last evening that he hopes the Commission of Enquiry into the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago and the construction sector will ’meet its objectives’ after it was given the all-clear by the High Court yesterday to continue with its proceedings.
’As you know, I was not here when the enquiry was decided upon, but I hope that it will meet its objectives,’ Jeremie said as he made his way from the Red House, Port of Spain, after the House of Representatives had passed the Proceeds of Crime and Financial Investigation Unit bills. (- See page 4)
In doing so, however, Jeremie defended the track record of the Prime Minister Patrick Manning administration when it comes to the issue of accountability and transparency. He said attacks from the Opposition and interest groups outside the Parliament, about what they claim is the People’s National Movement’s lack of action regarding UDeCOTT’s decision to file a lawsuit challenging the validity of the enquiry, were unfounded.
’We have a proud history of being strong on transparency and accountability in public life,’ Jeremie said, without making any more detailed comments.
Also approached for comment as he left the Red House last night, Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley, one of the witnesses in the enquiry and a strong critic of UDeCOTT, said he was happy with the removal of the interim reliefs that had frozen the enquiry’s proceedings but said the State-owned developer’s judicial review against the commission must be withdrawn altogether.
’The Government should remove the board, withdraw the lawsuit and all the attendant issues will disappear,’ Rowley said.
Opposition MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, who, on Sunday, threatened to file private criminal proceedings if the State failed to act on the evidence submitted in the enquiry, also said UDeCOTT’s entire lawsuit needs ’to be vacated’, so the enquiry could continue and ’that after it starts back, there will be no question of going back to the court or of frustrating it’.
