Dansook fails to show at corporation meeting

ONE day after a letter was read in Parliament of alleged bribe payment and death threats by two senior Government ministers, the man who made the allegation, PNM councillor Dansam Dansook, was conspicuously absent from yesterday’s statutory meeting of the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation. Dansook, who represents the Ecclesville district, was also not at his Clearwater Village home in Rio Claro. Dansook sent Prime Minister Patrick Manning a letter in which he alleged that he (Dansook) paid bribes totalling $75,000 to Works Minister Franklin Khan and Energy Minister Eric Williams. The letter was read in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Chairman of the council, Ramlochan Panchoo, told Newsday that Dansook did not attend the meeting nor did Fitzroy Ottley. Panchoo told Newsday that the third PNM councillor, Matthew Pierre, arrived at the meeting two minutes before it adjourned. The council is controlled by the United National Congress after lots were drawn when the election results tied. The chairman added that the “Dansook letter” was not discussed at the council’s meeting. However, Panchoo described the matter as “extremely serious.”

“I think that this matter should have been sent to the Fraud Squad. Whoever is involved in this abuse of public office must face the full brunt of the law,” Panchoo said. Telephone calls to Dansook’s home and mobile phones went unanswered. When Newsday visited Dansook’s home, his wife, Dol, spoke briefly about the controversy. She expressed fear for the lives of her husband and their two children. “I never liked politics but this whole incident is too much like what happened to (Hansraj) Sumairsingh. We are afraid for our lives,” Dol said. Dol said she and her husband were very religious people.