UNC warns Petrotrin

THE OPPOSITION United National Con-gress  yesterday warned State oil company Petrotrin to be prepared for punitive action in Parliament if it intimidates one of its MP’s in any way. During Monday’s sitting of the House of Representa-tives, a UNC MP claimed there was ethnic discrimination, and that a document to that effect had been drawn up by a company director. Petrotrin subsequently denied the MP’s charges and company chairman Malcolm Jones is reported to have sent a warning letter to the MP, who is employed as a manager at Petrotrin. In a statement, UNC chairman Wade Mark declared: “The UNC wishes to place on record that it is prepared to go to any lengths to challenge Petrotrin’s rights to threaten a Member of Parliament with reprisal, at this or any other time for having made certain allegations before the House of Representatives concerning that company’s affairs.”

He added it was common knowledge that members in all of the Commonwealth’s Parlia-ments “enjoy un-qualified privilege of freedom of speech.” Mark further noted that this right was enshrined in Section 55 (2) of the Constitution which reads: “No civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted against any member of the House for words spoken before, or written in a report to, the House of which he is a member or in which he has a right of audience under Section 62 or a committee thereof or any joint committee or meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives or by reason of any matter or thing brought by him therein by petition, bill, resolution, motion or otherwise; or for the publication by or under the authority of either House of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.” The UNC chairman warned that should any attempt be made by “Petrotrin or its agents to threaten, warn, intimidate or otherwise” the MP, the party’s parliamentary team in the Lower House will move immediately to have the Lower House’s Committee of Privileges “sanction Petrotrin and/or authors of any such correspondence including executive chairman Malcolm Jones for contempt of Parliament.” Mark called upon Jones to immediately issue a public statement denying there is any intention on Petrotrin’s part to impose sanctions on the MP “arising from statements made by him before the House of Representatives.”