Over one million Maritime shares held by Govt

IN 1996 Corporation Sole, the Minister of Finance, owned over one million ordinary shares in Maritime Life Caribbean Ltd. Deputy Registrar in the Registrar General’s Department Francis Sandy said this was very rare. However Junior Finance Minister Kenneth Valley yesterday said government has always owned 18 percent of Maritime shares. The disclosure about government’s shareholding in Maritime, a private company, was made by Sandy at the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport Development Project. Sandy was summoned to provide the records on the annual returns of Royal Castle Ltd, Northern Construction Ltd (NCL), Maritime Life Caribbean Ltd and Calmaquip Ltd for the period 1996 to present. Led by attorney for the Commission, Margaret Rose, Sandy listed eight persons as directors of NCL in 1996. Among them were Edward Bayley, Hugh Eastman, Steve Ferguson, Barbara Gomes and John Henry-Smith.

He listed over a dozen shareholders, including Corporation Sole, Minister of Finance, who in 1996 owned 1,058,557 ordinary shares. At that time Brian Kuei Tung was the Minister of  Finance. Kuei Tung also personally owned 610 shares. Sandy also pointed to a number of shares being transferred from Maritime shareholders to subsidiary company Fidelity Finance and Leasing Co Ltd. In response to questions from Commissioner Marie Ange Knights, Sandy said it was very rare for Corporation Sole to invest in a private company. He said usually Corporation Sole would invest in State-owned companies, or companies in which the State had an interest. He was also asked if Corporation Sole owned shares in Maritime Life Caribbean Ltd prior to 1996. Sandy will provide the answer to the Commission when he returns to provide further information on other companies. Sandy also provided information on the directorship and shareholding of Royal Castle and NCL. However Valley told Newsday, Corporation Sole has always owned 18 percent shareholding in Maritime.

John Humphrey, former Housing Minister and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee overseeing the project, also continued to be questioned by the Commission’s lead attorney, Theodore Guerra, SC. Last week Humphrey said he was unaware that Government guaranteed two loans taken by the Airports Authority (AA) on behalf of Calmaquip for US$30 million to finance CP13. However, yesterday he said he knew about the principle behind the guarantee. He said Government was concerned about media and public complaints about the cost of the project and decided to transfer the CP13 contract from NIPDEC to the AA. Asked if government hid the cost, Humphrey said no, explaining that it was a technique used by Ministers of Finance with billions of dollars. He said the Auditor General would eventually find the full cost of a project. When he was told that the cost was “ex-post facto”, in that it would be found after the project, Humphrey agreed. Humphrey also said Cabinet usually would not know the details of certain issues. Asked by Chairman Clinton Bernard if Cabinet could be hoodwinked, Humphrey said, “Anybody could be hoodwinked.”