Corruption battle not over

THE EDITOR: What is a continuing puzzle is that, notwithstanding a public official being charged with not declaring substantial assets in a foreign bank account, nevertheless he has not been ordered, apparently, to explain the source of those funds taking that they could not be savings from his known legitimate income.

Extraordinary? I think so! In another regional country recently, in general conversation, the topic of sudden conspicuous consumption came up and it was made very clear that anyone suddenly driving an expensive vehicle or moving into an expensive house would certainly be investigated as to why this appearance of unexplained “good fortune.” The PM blithely talks of becoming a “developed nation by 2020” but he has a long, long row to hoe, starting with the very top echelons. Proper social and economical development and corruption are contradictory, self-negating terms. We cannot have both, so must soon decide unequivocally which one we want with the consequent absence of the other.

I hope none is under the illusion that, for all its blatancy then, corruption ended with the collapse of the UNC government! Those that pose they are for transparency and declare that they exist to combat corruption are conspicuously silent of late but I can assure them that public funds are still illicitly enriching persons in official and unofficial positions of power and influence. The battle isn’t over til it’s over!

GEOFF HUDSON
Port-of-Spain