RENTAL DEAL!

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Page 2 ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016 IF I WERE THE PRIME MINISTER OF T&T I WOULD STAMP OUT CORRUPTION A weekly column by JACK WARNER Clean water is not the only precious commodity missing at WASA; integrity seems to be also absent in every form. For this reason, if I were the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, I would have appointed a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into this State agency to determine why it has virtually ground to a halt. It must be of national concern that an agency, which hired 1000 people, mainly from South of the Caroni Bridge between August 5 and September 8, 2015 is now once again with a staff of some 4000 people after it had that figure reduced to just over 2000 a few months ago. One of the focii of my COI would have been to unearth the corruption in the hiring practices at WASA. People at WASA cannot understand how an employee who was in jail for three months on guns and ammunition charges received his full pay from WASA during incarceration. Employees are incensed that not only was the man allowed to walk from his jail cell straight back to the job but also the person whom is known to have signed his pay slip during that period and who WASA knows is selling uniforms to local workers and non employees is also still on the job. My COI would uncover and deal with the WASA administration and managers of WASA at Kew Place in Port of Spain who refused to take action against the employee who broke into WASA’s building and was caught on camera stealing WASA’s money. Today, the man is still employed at WASA. In fact the COI would want to know why the late Hooker’s successor told workers to refrain from going to WASA’s Head Office to complain and why under his watch weed smoking has become rampant at Kew Place. At present WASA is on the brink of collapse and its Minister, poor soul, seems paralyzed but if I were the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, I would have immediately appointed this COI to save the nation from what is heading to be a sure disaster. Employees are also concerned that the qualifications of many WASA workers are suspect. How a WASA Police Officer could suddenly ascend to the position of Senior Manager is confusing and maybe, at the same time, the COI would identify the three bagmen in the last administration and provide answers not only pertaining to who or where the bags of money went or from whence but also the process of promotion at WASA. Of concern also is the employment of two workers at WASA who received $17,000 per month for two years yet never turned up one day for work. The COI would reveal whether one of these employees was a Minister’s son and whether the other one was the Minister’s driver the latter of whom also received two salaries for two years - one as the Minister’s driver and the other as an employee at WASA. The COI would also investigate how five brothers from one family could be hired in one department at WASA and how in that said department there are now the appointments of various Heads such as the Head of Cleaning, the Head of Making Tea and the Head of Staples and Paper Clips. The stories at WASA are nothing short of scandalous yet honest hard working employees are being sent home or are suspended while those who contribute nothing to - at all levels in WASA Former Acting WASA CEO GANGA SINGH the development of our nation are allowed to rape our Treasury. Then there is the favourite son at the St. Clair yard, a former soldier, who has a relationship with a top management personnel and whom is given preferential treatment such as being placed in Range 58 and being sent on various WASA courses and programmes. He is also the beneficiary of paid personal security all at WASA’s expense. This man who is also a DJ is said to have no experience and no certification but he is the favoured son who is reporting for duty at the St. Clair Yard instead of the Santa Cruz yard where he has been assigned. The COI would also discover that the selling of WASA materials from the St. Clair Yard has now become the norm. Moreover the COI would discover that every fortnight WASA pays some $170,000.00 to workers in the Tacarigua and Santa Cruz yards all of whom have nothing to do. In fact in the recent back pay received by WASA workers many employees expressed shock at the large amount of money they received. It is reported that in one case a driver received well over $250,000.00 in back pay. The COI would also discover the motive and possible perpetrators for the murder of WASA Police Supt. Deoraj Maharaj as well as Pastor Derek Hooter since WASA Caroni Water Treatment plant in Piarco the COI will be interested in a file that was delivered to a WASA employee the night before the Superintendent’s death. In fact the COI would find out from its inquiry that, at WASA, they first took away Maraj’s driver and then his firearm and then had him murdered. One of the major problems at WASA is the employment of thugs and gangsters some of whom act as bodyguards to senior officials who are unrepentant in their actions and who continue to intimidate hardworking employees and bring the agency into disrepute. There is also an uneasy quiet at WASA and many have taken note that the management of WASA’s Operations Administration is preferring persons with a certain sexual orientation for employment and this most certainly would be of interest to the COI if such a pattern is identified. But I was told that if I think the employment practices at WASA are nauseating, then expect to vomit at the corrupt practices that will be uncovered. The COI would want to know whether an employee cashed WASA’s office equipment vouchers at Moosai’s Hardware during the last Christmas season and of the close to half a million in cheque fraud that has taken place these past months. Employees now receive their salary cheques crossed forcing them to now deposit the cheques to their bank accounts and await four days for them to be cleared. The COI would be interested in hearing about the number of senior officers’ homes that were repaired with materials and labour from the WASA stockyard. The COI would be concerned about reports that in the case of a Fleet Officer Two, the private labour for a two-week period paid by WASA was in the sum of $195,000 of taxpayers’ money. Already information is available and employees are willing to talk about the scope of works such as tiling, putting up water tanks, casting of driveways and much more which were done at the homes of top management personnel - all at taxpayers’ expenses.The COI would certainly want to investigate the role played by the Special Manager Projects and his staff during the $400m pipe laying contract from Chaguanas to the Deep South If I were the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago I would have been concerned about how persons were employed on these projects, how much they were paid and the work they were doing. WASA has been inherently corrupt but today a sad sorry story has developed at WASA; it is a shame and scandal affair. Many WASA workers have every reason now to be angry because some of their workers who contribute daily to WASA’s growth and development and who report on the corruption at WASA are being sent home on suspension while misfits sit in their offices and continue to mismanage WASA’s affairs just as they had done in the past. For those hard working WASA employees the more things change the more they remain the same and in all of this WASA’s Line Minister seems impotent to effect the required changes to fix WASA. .In WASA the COI would have discovered that as far as reforms are concerned it is all a game of musical chairs. A forensic audit will certainly help in unearthing many of the corrupt practices at WASA especially if the auditor is hired from abroad, but notwithstanding that, if I were the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago I would have immediately launched a Commission of Inquiry into WASA because it is not only the water at WASA that is not clean. Too much seems to be going wrong there. It seems as though monsters are everywhere.
ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016 Page 3 QUESTIONABLE WASA LEASE! - for 10 years Story by Investigative Reporter AZAD ALI Questions are being raised about a decision by the Tenders Committee of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) regarding the rental of a property owned by Bhagwansingh’s Hardware and Steel Industries Limited for $35.4 million for 10 years. This is one of the “irregularities” it is hoped will be part of the forensic audit into WASA, insiders in the company are saying. The investigation will be conducted as to how WASA spent $38 million to renovate the Bhagwansinghowned property at Golden Grove Road, Arouca 18 months before the Tenders Committee approved the long-term rental of the property for use as the Trincity Regional Complex. According to documents in the possession of Sunshine, on May 25, 2015, then Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Yorke wrote a memorandum to Diaz who was the Acting Director of Corporate Services at the time, stating that at the 252nd meeting of the Tenders Committee, a decision was taken to advise the board of directors to renew the lease for WASA’s Trincity Regional Complex in Arouca. The funds for servicing the lease would come from the Corporate Services Recurrent Budget. The proposed terms for the rental are: for a period of 10 years commencing September 15, 2014 and ending in 2024 at a fixed rate with the option to renew the lease at the end of the 10 year period, and at a monthly rate of $295,000 which amounts to $35.4 million over the life of the lease. Sunshine has been informed that the rental agreement has still not yet been signed to date and moves are being made to have it rushed through and to bind the State for the next decade before the new board has a chance to figure out what is going on. What is curious though is that work on the Trincity Regional Centre began when Ganga Singh was Acting CEO of WASA following the 2010 General Election. In 2012, Singh was made Minister of the Environment and Water Resources and line minister for WASA. This placed him in a position where he would have had as minister to oversee and approve matters commenced by him as CEO. The Trincity Regional Centre was opened in December 2013 by Singh in his capacity as Minister and was described as a “stateof-the-art” facility. Singh confirmed at the opening ceremony that $38 million had been spent by WASA on the renovation works. “How can you spend $38 million on a property that you have no long-term lease for? How can you spend that kind of money before you have the approval to rent the property for such a long period?” One senior WASA source asked. “After you spend $38 million to renovate a building you are now asking for permission to lease the very said building. How can the board say no? You cannot pick up the building and walk with it, so the board’s hands are tied. The timeline here is also very questionable.” It is also important to note that having spent $38m to GANGA SINGH ANNA DEONARINE renovate the property and another $35.4m in rent by 2024, the same WASA offices even in the best of times do not collect more than $75,000.00 per month from customers. What kind of business enterprise is WASA? Many persons are asking. Sunshine also made inquiries about the property and learned it was previously owned by CLICO. The building was much smaller and housed a branch of the insurance company, which was owned and managed by Shama Deonarine mother of former ILP Deputy Political leader, Anna Deonarine. The building also had an office for Home Construction Limited (HCL), the land and property development subsidiary of CLICO. When the fall of CLICO began in 2009, HCL was in debt to Bhagwansingh. The company supplied HCL with a substantial amount of steel and other building materials for its housing developments such as at the Crossings in Arima and major projects such as One Woodbrook Place, St. James. When the Insurance giant collapsed, HCL owed Bhagwansingh over $10 million for materials. The land on Golden Grove Road was traded to Bhagwansingh’s as part of the settlement of the outstanding bill,” according to a former HCL source. The word making the rounds is that a lawyer who is the wife of a government minister from the previous administration made a tremendous amount of money out of WASA’s rental of the property and has a major financial interest in the 10- year deal going forward. All eyes remain fixed on the upper-level management of WASA over this and other questionable deals at the Authority. Many persons are concerned that a forensic audit ordered last year is taking place while the persons whose professional conduct and decisions are being probed remain on the job albeit that they are not holding the same positions as under the last administration. A WASA media release last December – 13 days before the fire at the headquarters – advised that former CEO Yorke, a close friend of former Minister Singh and a fete promoter, was demoted to act as Director of Corporate Services, while four other senior level staff who held acting positions reverted to their previous substantive posts. General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Dion Abdool was appointed to act as interim CEO. Paula Maria Fortuné, head of Legal Services, was shifted to act as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary; Raffie David, head of the Tobago Region, now acts as Director of Operations; Rachelle Wilkie, head of Financial Planning and Management was put to act as Director of Finance; and May Ann Diaz, head of Workforce Planning and Organisation Development, was re-assigned to act as Director of Human Resources. Diaz (M) is the sister of former Director of Corporate Services Wendell Diaz. Diaz (W), was reassigned in the management shuffle to Assistant to the Director of Corporate Services, former CEO Yorke. He was allegedly caught on the fourth floor of the damaged WASA headquarters building a few days after the fire without authorization. He was immediately suspended. All the managers served during the tenure of Indar Maharaj as Chairman of WASA. Maharaj was appointed Chairman in December 2010 until the September 7, 2015, General Election. Maharaj simultaneously held the post of President of the National Gas Company (NGC) during which time billions of dollars in questionable ventures were undertaken by both NGC and WASA such as the $1.6 billion Beetham Wastewater Treatment Plant project which was awarded to SIS and which is now before the courts since SIS is unable to deliver. A $70 million contract by NGC to SIS for the beautification of the lands surrounding the Preysal Interchange in Couva is also under investigation. There is another WASA rental property that is giving the Sunshine serious cause for concern and that is the WASA stores at Johnny King ext. in Aranguez, but more about this in a subsequent issue of the Sunshine.
Page 1: IN $35 MILLION RENTAL DEAL!
Page 5 and 6: ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016 P
Page 7 and 8: ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016 E
Page 11 and 12: ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016 T
Page 19 and 20: ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016 S

RENTAL DEAL!

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?