Caption: Colm Imbert
By Alicia Chamely
MEMBER of Parliament for Diego Martin North/East Colm Imbert is calling the Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath a “compulsive liar.”
Speaking at a People’s National Movement (PNM) press conference on Wednesday at Balisier House, Port of Spain, Imbert wanted to address statements made by Padarath during his contribution on Monday night in parliament regarding the ownership of the building One Alexandra, the refurbishment of the Ministry of Public Utilities’s head office and the purchase of artwork.
Imbert said, “Now in the parliament, you are not allowed to use that word, so I wanted to use that word the other night, but knowing fully well the speaker would disallow it, what I said is I would come outside and say it. And I am saying it now, he is a compulsive liar!”
Regarding One Alexandra, Imbert said Padarath made a statement saying Senator Faris Al-Rawi owned the building and the “expenditure on refurbishing the building was going to ‘fatten the pockets’ of the former member of San Fernando West.”
Imbert said, “One Alexandra is owned by Nazim Nahous, not by Faris Al Rawi. If you go to the Companies Registry you will see that Nazim Nahous is the sole shareholder and Faris Al Rawi does not even appear as a director.”
He continued, “So that was another untruth muttered by the Minister of Public Utilities.”
Discussing the hot issue of refurbishments being done to the Ministry of Public Utilities, which Padarath stated in Parliament was costing $1.3 million, Imbert said, “That’s entirely untrue, and the actual break down of the costs for the refurbishment of the entire 6th floor of the building at One Alexandra, which is by the way, 7400 square feet in area, the renovation encompasses an entire floor.”
Imbert said despite Padarath’s claims the budget for the refurbishment was only $160,000.
He explained the 6th floor had not been upgraded in 15 years and the refurbishment included secretarial stations, the Permanent Secretaries office, the washrooms and waiting room.
Additionally, he denied claims by Padarath that he ordered himself a new workstation, stating he chose to continue using the old desk that was there, and any new workstations were for the Ministry’s staff.
He said, “So I was just astonished to hear Minister Padarath claim that I spent $1.3 million renovating a 30×30 room for myself.”
Imbert said when he left the building “around the 24th or 25th of April” due to renovations being in progress, only $50,000 to $60,000 of the budget had been used for the installation of blinds, carpet and the painting of walls.
Of Padarath’s allegations of the purchase of expensive artwork, Imbert said, “Another untruth was this nonsense about purchasing paintings for $30,000 and then paying $35,00 to install them. That too is a lie.”
Imbert speculated whether the United National Congress (UNC) government had not increased the budget themselves, saying, “I am intrigued because it seems like the budget was increased by $300,000 after I left and when the UNC arrived, it seemed like the budget increased.”
The MP said since the UNC had come into power, he had heard professional staff such as the Permanent Secretary had been “evicted” from the sixth floor to house ministers and parliamentary secretaries.
Imbert said, “What I also heard was, because the UNC has this habit of having the largest cabinet in the world, that they threw the permanent secretary off the sixth floor. Evicted her from the sixth floor because they have so many ministers and parliamentary secretaries now. So, they threw the professional staff off the floor, so that now ministers can occupy these offices.”
Returning to Padarath, he said, “So,I have come outside to say that, and I would like to see what Mr Padarath is going to say, now that I have called him a liar in public.”
