Mark wants Revenue Fund for investment

Mark was responding to the second reading of a Bill entitled, "An Act to amend the Supreme Court of Judicature Act Chap. 4:01," which was piloted by Junior Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds. The amendment proposed to empower the High Court to invest any money paid to the courts, with the intention of accruing interest.

According to Opposition Senator Wade Mark, there could be no objection to the amendment, which he described as "long overdue." Meanwhile, he said, he hoped Government would act speedily to bring the issue of the Heritage and Stabilisation Act before the Parliament, since almost $6 or $7 billion, accruing only nominal interest, was sitting at the Central Bank in the Interim Revenue Stabilisation Fund. If that money had been invested in a legal framework, Mark said, hundreds of millions more would have been accrued for the people of this country. "We want action on this particular Bill, which is outstanding in this country," he said, "so it can become an Act before December 2005."

"Lets put our billions of dollars into proper investment opportunities, not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but in the Caribbean and the international community," Mark said.

Regarding the Bill which was before the House for amendment, Independent Senator Ramesh Deosaran suggested that a portion of the monies paid in fines be placed into a public safety fund and subsequently be used in the fight against crime. Deosaran also said income from traffic tickets could be used to employ traffic wardens to assist in alleviating the prevalence of traffic offences.