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Corruption burns twice

www.newsday.co.tt

People who are expressing shock at the fees paid out over the past 17 years to forensic accountant, Bob Lindquist, by five Administrations to uncover State corruption in Trinidad and Tobago, should instead be alarmed at the reasons why all this money has to be spent just to ensure integrity and accountability by our Governments. What should send genuine shock waves is that after almost two decades of these investigations which have unearthed reported as well as proven instances of bribery and fiddling with public funds, both by elected representatives of the people and public officers, that the cancer of corruption has not yet been excised.

If integrity had been ingrained in our thinking those who have sought and held public office it would not have been necessary to bring in Lindquist and others to root out the cancer of the few. Attorney General John Jeremie's revelations in the Senate on Wednesday that $21 million had been paid out to date should not be as shocking as the truth that although Lindquists' services had been retained by the NAR Administration, two UNC Administrations and two PNM Administrations yet fresh instances have arisen of officials who still insist in putting their fingers "in the cookie jar," and pulling out millions of dollars that should be used on behalf of taxpayers. Ironically when the figures were presented to the Senate the concerns of the Opposition appeared to take aim at what Lindquist's investigations into corruption was costing taxpayers. Admittedly, an earlier probe, initiated by the NAR Administration in the 1980s and which had exposed two Government Ministers, had cost the country appreciably less.

But that probe had merely taken investigators for the most part to London and Geneva. This time around the paper trail had been much longer, not as easy to follow and reportedly had led to several additional cities and financial institutions in many parts of the world. Several Administrations, before and after Trinidad and Tobago obtained its Independence in 1962 have had to pay out sorely needed funds to effectively tackle the question of corruption. This included the Caura Dam scandal which had triggered a probe in the 1940s, and the Gomes Commission of Inquiry appointed in the 1950s to examine allegations of corruption in the Port-of-Spain City Council. Corruption burns taxpayers twice. First when funds are misappropriated or bribes accepted in exchange for favours done or about to be done which add to the cost of the project and, ultimately, inflate the cost to the taxpayer. And later, when taxpayers' money is employed to ferret out the information in an attempt to bring the crooked to justice.

Almost every project we undertake major, moderate and minor, appears to have been tainted by the brush of corruption. And what must clearly be of the essence is bringing to justice those who fiddled with the country's purse. But even as Government seeks to do this it has to be careful that details which in future it may be requested to bring before Parliament are not devices to allow persons, who may down the road be charged in Court for corruption, to plead that pre-trial publicity had affected the possibility of their obtaining a fair trial.

Trinidad and Tobago News

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