By Azard Ali

Citing contract selection in the airport project as the root of the corruption, Opposition Leader Patrick Manning on Tuesday night called for quick police action.

"Those who do the crime must pay the time," he declared, adding that there was a clear and calculated plan to corrupt the contract selection process as the Lindquist report has indicated.

He told supporters at a meeting in Vistabella that when elected he would set up a public Commission of Inquiry into the airport construction.
It was a grave injustice, he added, that the selection process was manipulated which favoured one particular contractor. Manning said the PNM has been advocating transparency in the award of contracts and said their calls for a comprehensive airport probe were met with insults.
He said over-bidding on invoices, price fixing, double invoicing, price inflating were the actions of men with a "calculated plan".

The PNM Leader said the airport cost almost twice the amount of the initial estimate —$1.6 billion. He criticised Prime Minister Basdeo Panday for failing to act on the report.

"He gets the evidence and he does nothing about it. It was in his hands since December last and decides to do nothing about," Manning said.