Caption: Colm Imbert, right, and  Faris Al Rawi. Photo: T&T Parliament

By Alicia Chamely

THE Auditor General is not able to verify the nearly half a billion dollars spent on government rentals for this financial year.

This was revealed by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Friday during her contribution after the Report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for the Fiscal Year 2024 was presented at the 2nd Sitting of the House of Representatives at the Red House, Port of Spain.

Persad-Bissessar said $493,209,274.63 was spent on rental properties. She said this would not necessarily be a bad thing if the properties were needed, but the amount spent could not be verified by the Auditor General due to inconsistencies in payment and lack of lease contracts.

She explained the Auditor General discovered huge differences between what was paid by the ministries and departments and what should have been paid according to the Master List.

Persad-Bissessar gave examples of these inconsistencies. She said the Ministry of Health had paid $49.3 million in rent, when the Master List showed payments should have only been $1.4 million.

The two largest inconsistencies in rentals listed by Persad Bissessar belonged to the Judiciary and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS).

The Judiciary paid over $30 million in rent, when the Master List showed $1.4 million.

The TTPS paid $51.9 million in rent, the Master List showed $459,000.

She questioned if these were “ghost rentals” saying that due to these variations in what was paid and what was on the Master List, $208,304,525.94 could not be verified.

In terms of leases, she said the Auditor General’s report showed 90% of properties rented under the previous government were done without leases or expired leases.

Targeting PNM Senator Faris Al-Rawi, she said a total of $15.8 million was paid to his spouse’s family for the rentals of #1 and #3 Alexandra Street, St Clair, without a lease.

Referring to the senator as “Al-Rental”, she said, “Al-Rental sitting in a cabinet and recusing himself, revolving door policy, in and out. And brought back as a senator. Shame!”

Persad-Bissessar said what was most worrying was that two companies, which she did not name, were paid $15 million each per year for the rental of three buildings each, with no leases or cabinet approval.

Going back to Al-Rawi, she said a building located on Estate Trace, Barataria rented for $6.9 million without leases or cabinet approvals, was a building that Al-Rawi had to “recuse” himself from meetings when discussed.

Regarding the report on rentals, Persad-Bissessar said, “This was a free-for-all. A feeding frenzy of epic proportions at the expense of taxpayers of this country facilitated by the PNM Government of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Responding to Persad-Bissessar, PNM Member of Parliament for Diego Martin North East and former minister of finance Colm Imbert asked if she was aware that many of the rentals she was concerned about were commenced by the United National Congress (UNC) government in the period 2010-2015.

Imbert said the building on Estate Trace, Barataria, was rented by the UNC for $41 million without occupying it.

Persad-Bissessar responded, “No, the answer is no, you’ve been there for nine years. Read the report and seek deliverance.”