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Hinds: Probe if bribe $$ floating in T&T
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Hinds__Probe_if_bribe____floating_in_T_T-122922038.htmlBy Anna Ramdass anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com
June 1, 2011
Opposition Senator Fitzgerald Hinds has called on Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs and the Comptroller of Customs to investigate whether hundreds of thousands of United States (US) currency illegally entered this country in relation to bribery allegations leveled against suspended FIFA vice-president Jack Warner.
He also called on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to take immediate action if bribery allegations are made against any member of her Government.
"I am calling on the commissioner since a crime against the law of Trinidad and Tobago may have been committed. I am calling upon the Comptroller of Customs to check the records to see whether large amounts of US currency was illegally imported into Trinidad and Tobago without declaration and if not where did the money come from to fund it locally? These are the issues I want the Minister of National Security and the Minister of Justice to address," said Hinds.
Hinds raised the issue as he debated the Miscellaneous Provisions (Ministry of Justice) Bill, 2011 at the Senate sitting yesterday.
Warner, the Minister of Works and Transport, as well as Qatari FIFA executive member Mohamed bin Hammam were suspended on Sunday by FIFA's ethics committee for allegedly bribing members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) with US$40,000 each to solicit votes for bin Hammam who was contesting the FIFA presidency but later withdrew.
Warner had promised that a "political tsunami" would occur in the football world.
Hinds raised the issue in the Senate yesterday while Leader of Government Business, Subhas Panday, repeatedly quoted various standing orders to prevent him from dragging on the matter.
Responding to Hinds's call for a probe, Panday said, "In any event those are merely allegations and you are using allegations as truth and calling upon the Comptroller of Customs to investigate."
Hinds insisted that his call for an investigation was justified.
Tensions rose as Senate Vice President Lyndira Oudit ordered that Hinds's statements be struck from the record as Hinds and Opposition Senator Faris Al Rawi objected.
Oudit did not state clearly which statement was to be struck except to say "reference made to any member in a private capacity and the private members who are not in this Chamber or in any other Chamber of this House".
Before this, without calling names, Hinds had accused the Government of trying to protect a cabinet minister.
He pointed out that in 2005 when allegations of bribery and election fraud were made against former PNM ministers Eric Williams and Franklin Khan, Persad-Bissessar had said that the Fraud Squad and Anti-Corruption Bureau should investigate. He questioned whether she would now walk away from these principles as she is wearing the hat of Prime Minister.
"I know it is painful to face the truth, major player in the Cabinet, major financier, I know, but you have to bite the bullet, you have to deal with it otherwise we cannot respect you, we cannot trust you," said Hinds.
"I understand that really there is jubilation and celebration among some members of the Cabinet over what has happened over the last three days internationally you know," he teased as Panday shouted "Nonsense!"
Hinds continued: "You can gain my confidence and my trust and my respect again if the Government, all of you, will bring to bear some pressures on those upon who responsibility it is to take action and to cleanse the name of the Government from the view of the national community that you are protecting and nurturing someone in your cabinet who has been accused of very very serious offences … it is a crime to offer a bribe or to take a bribe in this country."
