The Lindquist Report on WASA

The eagerly-awaited Bob Lindquist report on WASA is complete and finally in the hands of Attorney General, Glenda Morean.

Morean said yesterday that she re-ceived the 25-page report on Friday. She said Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, who has been out of the country, is expected to be given a copy of the report by today. (Manning who was in Jamaica last week, went to Barbados yesterday). Morean said “naturally” she read the Report but she didn’t want to say anything until the Prime Minister has had the opportunity to go through it. “I have given certain undertakings and I have to follow things through,” she said.

Asked whether she had decided whether the report should go to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further action, Morean again declined to comment, saying that she had to follow a certain procotol (before answering such a question). Questioned whether she was finished with Linquist on this matter, she said: “Yes, unless some clarification is needed or any further thing.” The report is the result of the first investigation by the PNM Government into allegations of corruption within in its own ranks. Public Utilities Minister Rennie Dumas, who has responsibility for WASA, said yesterday that he was “curious, but not overly concerned. I am just as interested as somebody else,” he said. He added that to the extent that allegations are made about something which comes directly under his charge, he is interested because he would want to ensure that there is clean government.

Dumas said the normal practice is that the report goes to the Prime Minister who then places it on the Cabinet table. Asked whether he thought he deserved to get a copy of the Report before the rest of the Cabinet, Dumas said no, “except the Prime Minister believes that there is information that I (Dumas)  should know about before the rest of my colleagues or that he (the Prime Minister) feels that there was something that requires action on my part.” Stating that the Prime Minister receives every note to Cabinet before it is distributed to other members of the Cabinet, Dumas said there was “no lag” in him not receiving this report. The allegations which led to the investigations were first made by UNC MP Ganga Singh. Yesterday Wade Mark stated that he was happy to hear that the Report was finally complete. But he added: “The question is when would it be tabled (in Parliament)?” Mark had previously stated that the Government would not make the report public until after the July 14 local government election.