Wade Mark: PM Manning knows about slush fund
UNC CHAIRMAN Wade Mark yesterday charged that Prime Minister Patrick Manning has knowledge about an alleged million dollar slush fund in a Government ministry which allegedly is being used to fund the construction of private property in South Trinidad. Mark said all of the information which the Opposition has on this matter will be turned over to the police, Director of Public Prosecutions and the Integrity Commission. The UNC chairman caused an uproar in the Senate on Thursday evening when he declared, "We are now investigating a report involving a high-ranking public official, where we have information that a particular ministry has a slush fund involving hundreds of millions of dollars and building private property down in South (Trinidad). We say no more at this time. We are investigating this high-ranking public official who sits in this Parliament on the Government benches. I call no names. We have information that a slush fund exists in that particular ministry." Mark told Newsday that the Opposition is continuing to gather information about the matter from its "people on the ground," and once this is done, the information will be turned over to the relevant authorities. However, Mark declined to say when the UNC’s investigations would be completed or to reveal the identity of the public official he referred to in the Senate on Tuesday. About alleged corruption by the Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago in the award of a $140,000 contract to NH International Caribbean Ltd for the Scarborough Hospital project and $25.5 million to Warner Construction for the Scarborough Library, Mark said the UNC plans to write to the Integrity Commission to investigate all of Udecott’s board of directors.
Comments
"Wade Mark: PM Manning knows about slush fund"