PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley really can choose his Cabinet, his stellar judgment has given us two questionable Attorneys General in Trinidad and Tobago to date.
Faris Al-Rawi or “Faris al La Rental” was Dr Rowley’s first AG who had many conflicts linked to State rental of family properties.
If you want to be a businessman and make lots of money off the State, it is better you stay out of politics. The former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi has confirmed that he has an interest in at least one of the four properties rented by the Government’s Personnel Division.
The family of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi gets paid $20,280,000 a year in rent money from the State for four properties. That’s approximately 8.5 percent of the Government’s annual rental bill of $235,829,007.68.
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The State rents four properties from companies where Al-Rawi’s wife, is a director. These are:
One Alexandra Place is rented from NJ Nahous Investments Ltd by the Ministry of Public Utilities for a whopping price tag of $600,000 a month;
The Personnel Department rents 3 Alexandra Street from Zaman Enterprises Ltd with a price tag of $575,000 a month;
NJ Nahous Investments Ltd also rents to the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services on 45A-45C St Vincent Street, Port of Spain for $159,000 a month;
NJ Nahous also rents a property at the corner of Agra Street in St James to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, rental price tag of $356,000 a month;
Dr Rowley’s second AG is now caught up with even more conflicts over a Miami Court disqualifying him from a case as the Plaintiff for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (RTT). The Miami court order stated that after hearing arguments and all the submissions, “the Court finds that both Attorney General Reginald Armour and Sequor Law are disqualified from continuing to represent Plaintiff Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in this case”. The court stated that it was undeniable that Armour represented Mr Kuei Tung between January 2003 and January 2008 in criminal proceedings in Trinidad and Tobago on charges arising from the alleged fraud and corruption in the construction of Piarco International Airport. He seems to believe he was a junior counsel in this case and gave evidence stating as much.
Now there are calls from many quarters for this current AG to step down.
However, in true PNM style no one steps down, they just get moved when the pressure gets too high to another post.
No PNM minister will ever step down or give up their high-paying ministerial post in the face of public pressure.
They will not give up the tax breaks, the perks, the drivers, the security and the power. They ignore the calls, dodge the questions and hide from the media.
Standard operating procedures for the PNM Ministers. Even with all this pressure mounting the acting prime minister has refused to answer questions on whether the current AG informed the Cabinet of his apparent conflict of interest.
This leaves the law fraternity and the general public to draw their own conclusions of the suitability of this AG and his honesty and good judgment.
So against this backdrop and all we have seen in the past, we know the standard operating procedure for the PNM hierarchy is to stay out of the media way for the next nine days so that the nine-day wonder passes and double down through all the allegations in hope that it will pass soon!
Neil Gosine is a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. He is currently the candidate for the position of treasurer in the internal elections of the United National Congress. The views and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily that of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
PNM Nine-Day Wonders
PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley really can choose his Cabinet, his stellar judgment has given us two questionable Attorneys General in Trinidad and Tobago to date.
Faris Al-Rawi or “Faris al La Rental” was Dr Rowley’s first AG who had many conflicts linked to State rental of family properties.
If you want to be a businessman and make lots of money off the State, it is better you stay out of politics. The former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi has confirmed that he has an interest in at least one of the four properties rented by the Government’s Personnel Division.
The family of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi gets paid $20,280,000 a year in rent money from the State for four properties. That’s approximately 8.5 percent of the Government’s annual rental bill of $235,829,007.68.
Paid advertisement
The State rents four properties from companies where Al-Rawi’s wife, is a director. These are:
Dr Rowley’s second AG is now caught up with even more conflicts over a Miami Court disqualifying him from a case as the Plaintiff for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (RTT). The Miami court order stated that after hearing arguments and all the submissions, “the Court finds that both Attorney General Reginald Armour and Sequor Law are disqualified from continuing to represent Plaintiff Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in this case”. The court stated that it was undeniable that Armour represented Mr Kuei Tung between January 2003 and January 2008 in criminal proceedings in Trinidad and Tobago on charges arising from the alleged fraud and corruption in the construction of Piarco International Airport. He seems to believe he was a junior counsel in this case and gave evidence stating as much.
Now there are calls from many quarters for this current AG to step down.
However, in true PNM style no one steps down, they just get moved when the pressure gets too high to another post.
No PNM minister will ever step down or give up their high-paying ministerial post in the face of public pressure.
They will not give up the tax breaks, the perks, the drivers, the security and the power. They ignore the calls, dodge the questions and hide from the media.
Standard operating procedures for the PNM Ministers. Even with all this pressure mounting the acting prime minister has refused to answer questions on whether the current AG informed the Cabinet of his apparent conflict of interest.
This leaves the law fraternity and the general public to draw their own conclusions of the suitability of this AG and his honesty and good judgment.
So against this backdrop and all we have seen in the past, we know the standard operating procedure for the PNM hierarchy is to stay out of the media way for the next nine days so that the nine-day wonder passes and double down through all the allegations in hope that it will pass soon!
Neil Gosine is a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. He is currently the candidate for the position of treasurer in the internal elections of the United National Congress. The views and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily that of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.