Thursday OCTOBER 30 Piarco Probe — Day 41
Abusive Romano made all decisions

By Charleen Thomas www.newsday.co.tt

NIPDEC’S General Manager Margaret Thompson yesterday confirmed that former NIPDEC Director Trevor Romano, had to be consulted on every issue relating to the construction of the Piarco airport and was the person who made all major decisions and gave approvals for the project.

She said she never knew of any NIPDEC Director who took such an interest in a project like Romano did. She also spoke of Romano using his size to invade her space. She said he shouted, banged on tables, stamped his feet and made lots of threats and called her “obstructionist”, when she tried to raise issues about the project which concerned her. She said after Romano died in 2000 there was a marked difference on the project and she got more involved in the site visits.

Thompson said when she was told she was to assume the position as Acting GM, she felt perturbed at the responsibilities, but she was told it would be for a three-month period. Thompson said she and her technical staff were not impressed with Birk Hillman Consultants (BHC) and felt they could learn nothing from them. Thompson was giving evidence yesterday at the Commission of Inquiry into the airport project at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Port-of-Spain.

Thompson, led in evidence by attorney Margaret Rose, said she became Acting GM in September 1998, after the “sudden” departure of Noel Garcia, who was the GM. She said she was called by NIPDEC’s Chairman, Edward Bayley, during a Board meeting and told that she would hold the position for three months while an investigation was undertaken on the finances of the project. She said Bayley told her an audit report had differed significantly from the account done by NIPDEC and Garcia was asked to proceed on leave “for his own good”. She said he told her further that Romano was to overseer all major projects and she was to report to him daily.

However minutes from a meeting showed that the Board had decided that Romano was to be the liaison between Thompson and the Board on the project. Asked by Rose if Bayley lied to her, judging from what was in the minutes, Thompson said it appeared so. Asked if she felt competent and ready to take on the role, Thompson said no, because she was perturbed at the responsibilities. She said months later she signed a memo given to her by Romano, directing the Financial Comptroller to pay him $60,000 as retroactive remuneration and $15,000 monthly for his role as liaison. She said she signed it because Bayley had told her the Board had agreed to pay Romano a stipend for his role.

Thompson said a copy of Bayley’s directive to her cannot now be found from her files. She said Romano made all decisions and approved all matters relating to the project and she was never allowed to approve any important decisions on her own. Asked if she had a good working relationship with Romano, Thompson said no because Romano had strong views on most matters and expressed them in “strong” ways. She said they had memorable conversations where he would raise his voice, “not generally obscene in the traditional sense, but he had a good vocabulary and used imaginative language”.

She described Romano as a frightening person when he got upset. Asked if he was difficult to get along with, Thompson said he used his size in her face and invaded her space. She said he sometimes banged tables, stamped his feet, shouted and made lots of threats and called her an “obstructionist”.

She said at times Romano asked her to do things against her better judgment, which was a source of argument. She said at NIPDEC she never knew of any Director who took an active role in a project like Romano did.

She said the first clash with Romano concerned NIPDEC’s management trying to redefine the role of BHC in that NIPDEC was trying to get the role of project managers.

She said Romano felt her management team complicated the project. She said to date she and her team have not managed to convince anyone about the matter but continue as if they were in charge. She said her team were not impressed with BHC and felt they could learn nothing from them.

Thompson also recalled that David Hardy, another NIPDEC Director, also had very little good to say about people. She said Hardy appeared frustrated by NIPDEC and insisted it be closed down. She said he used absence words in almost every sentence, but the same one over and over again. She said her management team had a poor view of BHC and they were not impressed and felt they could learn nothing from them.

Asked if she ever tried to get BHC fired, Thompson said while there were provisions in the contract, they were practically difficult to carry out. She said she raised the matter at Board meetings but was never allowed to pursue it. She said she was told NIPDEC never built an airport, so they would be bold to dismiss BHC. Thompson said she contended that NIPDEC had built warehouses, which was the same.

She said at one time, Romano told her she could be put out of meetings and called only when needed and she should speak only when spoken too. Asked what she thought about the high consultancy fees paid to BHC, Thompson said she thought nothing of it at first, because of the size of the project and the type of work.

Asked about the use of locals on the project, Thompson said while BHC had several local consultants, many contractors had pre-qualified for work.

However she said there was absolutely no need to hire foreigners to do work like install granite tiles and dry walls.

Regarding the construction of a fire station close to the airport as part of ICAO regulations, Thompson said as far as she know it was not part of the project, although BHC drew designs for the station.

She said NIPDEC has since reviewed the drawings and the project is underway.

Thompson will continue her evidence today.

Guardian reporter scolded for journalism by omission

A CASE of “journalism by omission and negligence and a tissue of lies”, were the terms used to describe a Guardian story published yesterday on the front page headlined “Bernard calls for Fidelity Files”, for which a correction is being demanded. The reporter was also scolded.

The harsh criticism of the story about issues stemming out of the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco airport project, was made yesterday by both Chairman of the Inquiry, Clinton Bernard and attorney Theodore Guerra, SC.

Guerra brought the story to the attention of the Commission saying, the “latter” half was “wholly untrue”.

The story referred to lawyers representing NCL who complained about public statements and questioned whether Ish Galbaransingh would get a fair trial in the criminal matter before the Port-of-Spain magistrates court. The story also noted that attorney Reginald Armour had appeared before the Commission to express concerns about the way it was conducted but he was ignored.

Guerra explained that Armour was never ignored, but was stopped when he attempted to make a statement which was outside of the Commission’s procedural rules.

Guerra said as little as Armour had to say, he was not ignored. He added that no statement about Ish with respect to any other matter had ever been made by Bernard, nor was there a statement by Bernard which affected other matters before another jurisdiction.

Guerra said he wanted the public to know whether the editors/authors had checked their sources before and it was a case of “real journalism by omission and negligence”.

Bernard said he was grateful for the observations, describing the story as a “tissue of lies”. Bernard noted that he had never made statements about Galbaransingh, good or otherwise. He assured that nothing said in the inquiry touched on the criminal charges “against certain people”.

Bernard further assured that all persons whose names have been called will be given the opportunity to appear before the Commission.

The absence of the Guardian reporter at the time prompted Bernard to further comment that probably they anticipated the commission’s response.

Prior to the lunch break, Bernard scolded the reporter demanding a correction with the same prominence.

http://www.newsday.co.tt/news2.shtml