By Sue-Ann Wayow
PARIA Fuel Trading Company Ltd has repeatedly failed on its promise to provide relevant documents required for the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) and as such has stalled the proceedings.
The CoE will not take place on Tuesday as previously planned and three witnesses scheduled to attend this week will now have to be rescheduled for next year’s hearings.
This was announced by CoE’s Chairman Jerome Lynch, KC, during proceedings on Monday before the witnesses took to the stands at the International Waterfront Centre, Port-of-Spain.
He called the reason as “problematic” and lambasted Paria for their lack of promised cooperation.
Lynch said, “The reason why we won’t be sitting tomorrow is because I have had to make a decision about preparedness for this enquiry. That includes having in our possessions all the material that we need in order to carry out this enquiry.”
The witnesses scheduled for Tuesday will now be rescheduled for Wednesday, Lynch said.
Paria on whose berth the accident occurred resulting in the death of the four underwater divers in February was asked to provide certain documents over a period of time.
Lynch said, “During the course of this weekend and as late as four o’ clock this morning we were provided with what is on any view hundreds and hundreds of pages. It looks what the Americans call a document dump.”
Picking up the pile and dropping it on the table, Lynch said, “This! Handed to us in the course of halfway through this enquiry and when we have been seeking this material for months.”
Lynch reminded the CoE of the timeline of the CoE for emphasis and that the enquiry was announced in April, 2022.
“It is inconceivable that those who are responsible for providing material to this enquiry could not have appreciated that this material was likely to be relevant,” he stated.
On numerous occasions, the CoE requested the documents.
On July 19, the Commission wrote to Paria asking for all of the material they were willing to provide.
On September 6, Paria was further informed to submit all outstanding material.
A specific request in written form was then sent to Paria on November 8, asking for that specific material to be provided by November 11.
Lynch said, “Nothing happened on the 11th of November. They asked for an extension. They were granted an extension to the 17th of November. On the 15th of November, they sought a further application for a further extension. They got a further extension to the 22nd of November. On November 22 having promised to give it to us, they didn’t. On the 23rd November when they promised to give it to us, they didn’t.”
The Commission again wrote to Paria on November 24 asking for the documents with a promise to receive the next day by Paria. That too did not happen.
On December 4, Paria indicated to the Commission they were putting together their ICT records to send to the CoE by email. Again, that did not happen.
Another request was made on December 6 and the CoE was informed it would be sent by December 9.
Lynch said, “What we have is the very first time we got anything from them at all was during the course of Friday. We got nothing further on Saturday. We got more on Sunday and I still don’t know if we have it all.”
He declared, “This is not acceptable. I will not permit our legal team or any other of the legal teams to have to present their cases halfcocked because that’s where we are at the moment.”
Lynch said neither he nor his co-commissioner Gregory Wilson or any other member of the CoE’s legal team have been able to read those documents as yet.
He added that it could not also be shared with anyone else as the documents which include the IMT records also contained personal information such as names and contact numbers.
Other legal teams should have the material before principal witnesses from Paria are called to the witness box, Lynch said.
Paria’s acting Technical Lead Catherine Balkissoon, Paria’s Terminal Manager Collin Piper and Paria’s General Manager Mushtaq Mohammed are all scheduled now for Wednesday and Thursday.
Lynch also apologised to the other witnesses expected to attend the CoE this week. He said it was not fair to the witnesses and the CoE.
Lynch then asked Paria’s senior counsel Gilbert Peterson, SC, if there were any more documents that needed to be received and if they could be sent by that day.
Peterson told Lynch that Paria encountered difficulties in uploading the material over the weekend and that he will make enquires.
Lynch told Peterson that all of his explanations would have been accepted if the month was August.
He also said he was not blaming the lawyers present, “I am simply making an observation.”
Lynch said, “I don’t know whose fault is this but it is somebody’s fault.”
Last week Monday, Lynch had also reprimanded Paria for sending in certain documents late.
