Return my ‘stolen’ files

An indignant Emile Elias railed against UNC MP Ganga Singh, demanding that he return files “stolen” from his Scarbor-ough office. Elias insisted there was absolutely nothing wrong, irregular or unlawful in respect of both Tobago projects — the Scarborough Hospital, and the Rowley project at Mason Hall. “Singh’s claims were entirely without merit,” Elias told a news conference at his NH International  Caribbean (NHIC) head office on Long Circular Road, St James. And the man-in-the-middle,  Allan Warner, the primary contractor on the Mason Hall Project owned by Dr Keith Rowley, in an interview with Newsday also gave a categorical assurance that everything was “open and above board.” Warner,  a contractor for the past 22 years, expressed surprise at the statements made in Parliament and wished to guarantee that all work and materials used on the Rowley project were properly paid for. Warner said he had absolutely no problem with an inquiry and would co-operate with it. 

“What is the issue? Since when it is wrong to have a contract and to sub-contract?” he asked. He said as far as he was concerned Elias did no work for Dr Rowley. “We asked Mr Elias to carry out a project for us and that is what is going on,” he stated, adding, “We dealt with Mr Elias. He sent all his documents to us. We have copies of his documents in the office. We paid Mr Elias,” he said. He said this was not his first collaboration with Elias. “Tobago does not have a history of contracting capacity so you have to form some kind of alliance with a contractor in Trinidad,” Warner said. However, Warner, speaking with some degree of resignation, suggested that it seemed as if there were certain types of people in the society who should not get into business and when they do, they become targets. Earlier in a news conference, Elias, an established contractor, admitted that his company had done much better under the PNM — getting four contracts — than under the UNC, under which he received only one contract.

He admitted that he was a friend of Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley and that one of the 15 residential properties he rents in Tobago belongs to Rowley. But he categorically denied there was any illicit transfer of material from the Scarborough Hospital Project to a private land development project, owned by the Rowleys, in which he was a sub-contractor. Every movement of men and material was documented in the transfer slips, he said. And it was this comprehensive documentation which was pilfered from the Scarborough office, and presumably handed over to Singh. “We are reliably informed who removed the files, who couriered them to Trinidad and handed them over,” he said, adding that the company gave the police information to this effect. “The police would want to talk to Ganga Singh,” he said. Elias said NHIC had three contracts in Tobago — the $134 million Scarborough Hospital Project; a $54 million contract with Tobago Plantations, and a sub-contract from Warner to do civil works on land development for the Rowley family worth around $2 million. He said the marshalling point was the Scarborough Hospital site because it had security and storage facilities.

He said virtually all the materials for the three Tobago projects were sourced in Trinidad, packed in trucks and shipped to Tobago.  Elias stressed that all the materials belonged to NHIC, and men and materials were interchanged between the three Tobago projects. On each of the projects, the client’s quantity surveyor was responsible for giving a dollar value of the work done. “We have been paid by Mr Warner so far two payments totalling $400,000. And we have interim bills — one dated April 9 for $2 million — which give “extruciating detail” about the work done, value of materials etc,” he said. Elias said Singh had all the documents indicating that this  was a perfectly reasonable contract, but he preferred to throw mud under the protection of the Parliament. Why?  Because, Elias contended, the UNC was out to get him because of his involvement in the Airport Inquiry. An unrepentant Elias declared he was proud of the role he played in “bringing down the corrupt UNC government.” He said when he stood up to fight corruption, he knew he would be a target.

“I look forward to Ganga Singh returning the stolen files. “I welcome this inquiry and I suspect it would last 30 minutes,” he said. When told that the files were stolen, Singh stated, “I don’t know about that. What I do know is that I had photocopies of documents and I read those documents into the public record.” Saying that there is a trail leading from the Government project to a private sector project, Singh stated that if Mr Elias wanted copies of the documents, he  was prepared to provide him with copies, “but he will get it from the independent investigator that the Prime Minister intends to appoint.” Asked if he had originals, he said he had photocopies. He said while he took Rowley at his word that he did not know the materials were coming from the hospital site, Rowley ought to tell his contractor to indicate what money was paid to Elias and the amount of work done.