By Imran Ali, Express TT

"DEEP THROAT," an unidentified Ministry of Works employee, accused former Minister of Works Sadiq Baksh of suppressing information to ensure that the Northern Yorke/Coosal (NYC) consortium would be favoured for contracts in the Piarco airport project.

The worker's allegations, contained in a telephone conversation with building contractor Emile Elias, was on an audio-cassette admitted into evidence yesterday at the Commission of Enquiry into the project.

The tape was produced by Elias, who said he received a call from an unidentified Ministry of Works and Transport employee on April 14, 1997. Elias referred to the male caller as "Deep Throat" —the name used by two Washington Post reporters for a source who fed them information that led to the uncovering of the Watergate Scandal and the eventual resignation of US President Richard Nixon.

Elias yesterday added Steve Ferguson, a former CEO of the Maritime Group, and former Finance Minister Brian Kuei Tung to the list of people he claimed were in a conspiracy to have companies not associated with NYC prevented from participating in the airport project.

On the tape, "DeepThroat" said the NYC consortium had been ranked fifth in an independent evaluation exercise, and that the report was suppressed by Baksh and his permanent secretary so that NYC would be successful in getting contracts. The permanent secretary was Justin Paul, who was one of the first witnesses to testify before the Commission.

Elias said he received the information when the Deyalsingh Enquiry into the award of Piarco airport contracts was going on several years ago. He said former Airports Authority chairman Ameer Edoo was testifying at the time, and based on this information, he was able to get Edoo to admit that the evaluation had been done—after Edoo had previously denied it.

Elias claimed Edoo eventually produced part of the report to the Deyalsingh Commission, and it showed that NYC's experience in construction was limited compared to the other competing contractors, and that NYC should have been ranked lower than most of them.

"This document was intended to be suppressed and hidden," he stated.

"This was the largest construction scam perpetrated on the people of Trinidad and Tobago," Elias added, saying that Baksh and Edoo should be surcharged for awarding the contract to NYC.

Elias said he had a conversation with one Patrick Solomon, whom he said now works at Citibank, who told him that a director of the Airports Authority, Dr Alison Williams, had collected and kept all the copies of the evaluation.

Chairman of the Commission, retired chief justice Clinton Bernard, said Solomon would be summoned to testify about this issue.

Attorney for the Commission, Theodore Guerra SC, expressed the hope that "Deep Throat" would "develop a conscience" and come forward with the information he had.

Elias also corroborated evidence given by planning officer with the Ministry of Works and Transport, Sonia Francis-Yearwood, who told the Commission that negotiations between the Airports Authority and NYC for one of the construction packages were concluded within two days in March 1997.

He said that apart from it being unusual for negotiations to be held in any public tendering process, they were conducted when Cabinet decided to have the process of awarding contracts investigated. "A contract of this type would have taken at least four to six weeks," he added.

On another issue, Bernard responded yesterday to a letter from former transport minister Jearlean John, who criticised him of trying to impute misconduct on her role in the project.

Bernard denied the claim and said John would be given the opportunity to testify before the Commission at "the appropriate time".

The enquiry continues today at the Caribbean Court of Justice, Richmond Street, Port of Spain.