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Mystery $450,000 wired to London account

By PRIOR BEHARRY, Express

On election day, December 10, 2001, over $450,000 was wired by the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT) to HSBC Bank in London into the account of Hansib Publications Limited and to date no documents have been found stating what that payment was for.

This was the evidence of Linus Rogers, chairman of AATT, as he spent his fifth day giving testimony before the Commission of Enquiry into the Piarco Airport Development Project (PADP).

Rogers said Joshey Mahabir, acting general manager of the AATT, had ordered the payment which was done through First Citizens Bank's (FCB) Arima branch.

He said AATT had signed a contract with Hansib for public relations services on August 2, 2001, but it went into effect in October 2001.

Rogers said the contract stated that payments to Hansib would be $150,000 every three months.

He said Hansib was also hired in another contract to produce new editions of its publication Trinidad and Tobago: Terrific and Tranquil for the opening of the airport in May 25, 2001.

Rogers said this contract, which cost $1.8 million, included the production of Christmas cards, calendars and a 12-page supplement on the new airport. He said Hansib, in addition to a London address, had one in Valsayn. He said payments were made to Arif Ali.

He said in 2000, former AATT board members received over $150,000 in travel benefits in addition to their monthly travelling allowances. He said AATT paid $300 a day for the rental of cars and this was higher than the market rate of $200 a day.

After reading section 12 of the AATT Act, he said approval must be given by the Minister of Works and Transport before AATT entered into any contract.

Rogers said in the case of Ramesh Seecharan, who was awarded a contract of $207,000 a month to cut the grass of the AATT, no documents were found that there was compliance with this section of the AATT Act.

He read a cabinet note which stated that since 1993 a number of contracts were awarded without approval from the Works and Transport minister.

Chairman of the Enquiry, Clinton Bernard, said solicitor general Lynette Stephenson would have to be summoned to say whether any legislation had been passed to validate contracts entered into by AATT without the approval of the minister.

Rogers said former AATT chairman Tyrone Gopee was the only person who had a credit card that was paid by AATT.

He said his board found that departure tax, collected by AATT, was not being remitted to the Ministry of Finance. He said in 2000, the previous board only remitted $34 million after a query from the Minister of Finance.

He said in June 2001, AATT also stopped paying the departure tax and it was only in October that $18.8 million was remitted.

Rogers also noted that his board started to remit $35 million in revenues to the Ministry of Finance, since it was not be paid.

Trinidad and Tobago News

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