NEWS
I Will Never Do It
“I will never do it.”
This was the response yesterday from Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke after a woman reported to police that he had sex with her against her will. Strongly denying the allegation yesterday, Duke said he is seeking advice from his attorneys. Police are investigating a report that the trade union leader allegedly raped a Cunupia woman on Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad) hotel in Port of Spain. Read more here…
Gas breakdown causes blackout across T&T*
A break in the transmission of natural gas from the National Gas Company (NGC) to the Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) power plant in La Brea triggered a blackout in several parts of the country yesterday. Just before 10 a.m., the electricity supply was cut in various parts of Trinidad. Within an hour, most customers in West Trinidad had been reconnected. Read more here…
T&TEC owing $8b
The Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) has a massive debt of $8 billion, with the bulk of these funds owed to the National Gas Company (NGC). This was disclosed yesterday by Vishnu Dhanpaul, permanent secretary in the Public Utilities Ministry, during a public meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) at the Parliament, Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain. Read more here…
POLITICS
New anti-crime agency coming, says Al-Rawi
As he wound up the bruising debate in the Senate at the International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, on Tuesday night, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi announced Government’s plans to set up a new anti-crime agency. “The Ministry of the Attorney General is looking at the improved access to justice in the Caribbean work product dealing with the establishment of an agency of government to be known as the ‘major organised crime and anti-corruption agency’,” said the AG. Read more here…
SSA a failure: Opposition, Independent Senators not supporting bill
The Strategic Services Agency (SSA) is a failure, an unnecessary organisation and an agency that operated outside of its legal mandate. These were just some of the reasons given by Opposition and Independent senators for their unwillingness to support the SSA (Amendment) Bill during their contributions to the debate on the bill in the Senate on Tuesday night. In his contribution, Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge said the SSA had failed in its sole remit of collecting information as it relates to drug offences. He said of the three biggest drug busts in this country, none were as a result of the work of the SSA. “If you have failed in your sole remit, why are you asking for more work?” he asked. Sturge questioned whether the SSA was deliberately looking the other way and allowing so-called big fish and kingpins to slip away.
“That is a real possibility,” he said. “This is Trinidad and Tobago.” He said the SSA may have failed to detect drug crimes because “they were too busy spying on judges, politicians, journalists and everybody else but the drug dealers”. Sturge said the bill also had implications to journalists and their sources. Read more here…
Moonilal calls on Rowley: Clear up rental of One Alexandra
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley must clear the air and say whether the Government will actually be using One Alexandra Place and if rent is being paid on the building since the People’s National Movement assumed office, Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal said yesterday. He said the issue of One Alexandra Place, rented by the People’s Partnership for five years to the tune of $48 million and never occupied, continued.A further $50 million had been spent to outfit the building to accommodate government offices. Read more here…
BUSINESS
Ministry: Oil royalty regime outdated
Outdated legislation in ensuring the country received fair royalties from crude oil and severe staff challenges were identified as some of the challenges facing the Energy Ministry. The disclosure was made by acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy Heidi Wong, who along with other ministry officials, appeared before yesterday's Public Accounts Committee held in Parliament. She said certain provisions within the 1969 Petroleum Act needed to be reexamined including that of a proper pricing structure for crude oil. “We have over the years submitted certain revisions with respect to the Act but I cannot say why this has not happened,” Wong added. Read more…
$10b spent
It is unacceptable that the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) which has utilised some $10 billion in four years has not submitted any audited financial statements to the Parliament says permanent secretary in the Ministry of Public Utilities Vishnu Dhanpaul. Read more…
REGIONAL
All Eyes On Shaw - Finance Minister To Open Budget Debate, Reveal $1.5m Plan Today
When Finance and Public Service Minister Audley Shaw opens the Budget Debate in the House of Representatives this afternoon, the country will be listening intently to hear details of how the Government plans to raise billions of dollars in additional revenue to fund the controversial $1.5-million tax initiative the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) promised in the run-up to the February 25 general election. Financial analyst Dennis Chung said Shaw's Budget presentation should be built around the $1.5-million election commitment made by the JLP. He, however, urged caution in how any tax plan is implemented, noting that tax measures used to fund the payment of the tax-free benefit could have an inflationary effect on the economy. "Even an issue such as putting money in the hands of people to increase consumption, while this is good for economic activity, it does not necessarily guarantee economic growth," said Chung, the CEO of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica. Read more…
Payment from Venezuela through St Vincent bank raises questions
A Spanish media report that the Venezuela government has been secretly sending money to fund a left wing political party in Spain through an offshore bank based in St Vincent and the Grenadines has been denied by the bank in question but affirmed by the newspaper. Last Friday, the Spanish daily newspaper OKDIARIO published documents that it said proved that Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro was complicit in making a payment of $272,325 in 2014 to Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the political party Podemos, through Euro Pacific Bank in Kingstown, St Vincent. Podemos was founded in March 2014 as a left-wing populist party that claims it seeks to address the problems of inequality, unemployment and economic malaise that followed in the wake of the European debt crisis. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Dilma Rousseff suspended as Senate votes for impeachment trial
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff must step aside immediately following a vote in the upper house to move forward with impeachment proceedings stemming from allegations she broke budget laws. Fifty-five of the 81 members of the upper house voted in favor of the motion early Thursday, with 22 voting against. Speaking through the night, 71 of the chamber's members made their cases ahead of the electronic vote, which took hours and ended, ultimately, in Rousseff's temporary removal from office. Read more…
Anti-corruption summit: Cameron plans to name foreign property owners
12th May 2016