PM considering one-man inquiry

THE SAGA of the controversial Mason Hall Development project continued yesterday with Emile Elias charging that Ganga Singh had brandished original documents in the Parliament. Elias  challenged Singh’s claim that the photographs of the Mason Hall Development project, which is owned by the Rowleys, which he (Singh) displayed in Parliament were photocopies.

Elias,  a sub-contractor on the project,  was responding to statements by Singh that he knew nothing about the original documents. The statement came after Elias revealed that the files had been stolen from the NHIC Scarborough office and demanded their return. Elias called on Singh to not only return the documents but also to identify the person who “passed” the photographs to him (Singh) as he claimed in the Parliament. He also called for Singh’s resignation. Elias said the pictures were in fact the original digital coloured photographs that were in his company’s master file. Elias explained that it was a requirement that the staff at NH International took regular photographs of all the work sites as a means of documenting the progress of the work.

According to the Hansard record, Singh handed the colour photographs to the Prime Minister during his dramatic expose, a fact which was confirmed yesterday by Leader of Government Business, Ken Valley. According to Valley, “on the face of evidence in the Hansard, Ganga Singh had possession of the original documents, not copies. And I  demand that he explain to the police who handed him the original documents.” Singh said in Parliament, “Mr Speaker I now come to envelope number 5. I call this envelope ‘the seeing is believing envelope’ because in the envelope that was presented to me, I have colour pictures. I will pass it to you Mr Prime Minister. (Singh passes the envelope to the Prime Minister). Scarborough Hospital job number 1086. You can see the whole area in colour. The date of this picture is Wednesday, December 3, 2003. ‘Yuh think that tiefing start today?’” Singh is quoted in Hansard as saying.

Singh then stated: “I will keep the black and white copies (of the photocopies). This is tangible evidence of the rape of the public purse.” Elias said Singh’s statements in Parliament last Thursday that he was keeping the “copies”  amounted to a confession that he was passing on the originals to the Prime Minister. Elias also claimed that Singh misled the Parliament and country. Elias said Singh, realising that he did not have a case on this issue, was now trying to raise the question of the number of government housing contracts NH International had received. “We have one housing project out of the 48 in the country and it was awarded to us one year before Rowley became Housing Minister. So that too is a  red-herring,” Elias stated.

He added that when the entire country, including the President, the Chamber of Commerce, the Joint Consultative Council and all right-thinking citizens, was concerned about the airport project under the UNC there was no inquiry, while Prime Minister Patrick Manning at the “slight provocation” albeit unjustified, did the correct thing and has promised an inquiry into this matter. Sources revealed that the Prime Minister is considering appointing a one-man inquiry. Last Thursday Singh, quoting from documents, claimed that material was being siphoned from State resources at the Scarborough Hospital project for use on the private land development project at Mason Hall.