Justice Ricky Rahim yesterday granted leave to Ecouriers Limited, Websource, Jet Box International, Aeropostale, CSF Couriers and Caribbean Shipping Agencies, which last week, filed an application for judicial review against the Minister of Finance and the Attorney General.

Representing the courier companies are attorneys Keith Scotland, Joel Roper, Gideon McMaster and Jacqueline Chang, while the Minister of Finance is represented by Senior Counsel Martin Daly and Jason Mootoo. Representing the AG are attorneys Michael Quamina and Sean Julien, who also instructs Daly for the Finance Minister.

At yesterday’s hearing, Rahim disclosed to attorneys that he was a “sky box” customer and had intended to grant leave to the courier companies, after he was told that the interim relief of an order to stop the imposition and implementation of the tax until the court makes a determination on the matter, was no longer being sought by the companies.

Daly also indicated to the court that there was a possible issue of delay in bringing the action in accordance to the rules governing judicial review claims.

The six courier companies, which have 14 days in which to file their application, are contending that the decision of the minister to implement the tax, which came into effect on October 20, last year following the presentation of the national budget, was irrational, wholly unreasonable and disproportionate to any aim of the State and was done without adequate consultation.

They also contend they were not given a fair opportunity to be heard prior to the imposition of the tax and this was in violation of the principles of procedural fairness.

They are seeking declarations that their rights were violated by the minister when he implemented the tax and that they were unfairly discriminated against.

The courier companies also want the court to declare that the actions of the minister and the manner on which his decision was made known was not reasonably justified and goes against the Fair Trading Act of 2006.

They say the online tax applies dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions and places some trading partners at a disadvantage to others while distorting competition and confers an unfair advantage on ocean freight companies and arbitrarily and unfairly shields ocean freight companies from competition.

In the absence of a quashing of the tax, they are asking that it is also applied to goods imported via ocean freight as they believe it is a violation of the principles of procedural fairness.

The fiscal measure was announced by the Finance Minister Colm Imbert in September, last year, during the reading of the 2016-2017 Budget statement.

Imbert said then that the new tax will be imposed on purchases that arrive T&T through courier companies or brought in directly by individuals via air freight.

This measure, he said, was expected to raise an additional $70 million revenue.

The online tax will be “due and payable at the bonded warehouses before clearance of goods or directly to customs in the same way that VAT and customs duty are currently collected.” In one of the affidavits, the owner of Ecouriers Ltd said he lost routine customers who have chosen to ship items like televisions and advertising boards via ocean freight to evade the seven percent online tax.

Ahkeel Toussaint, also known as “Cakes”, of Mc Shine Lane, Belle Eau Road, Belmont, was charged with Hospedales’ murder which took place on July 23, 2016, at about 5.45 am.

Toussaint was also charged with robbery with aggravation and possession of a firearm and ammunition. He appeared in the Port-of-Spain Eight Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Sgt Hemraj Sirju laid the charges on Saturday.

Hospedales, 22, who worked in his family’s catering business, was shot and killed at Ariapita Avenue after he was confronted by a man who attempted to snatch his gold chain.

Determined to not let her son’s death be in vain, Hospedales’ mother Avis George-Hospedales established a charity fund to assist families who also lost loved ones to gun violence.

The Isaiah Hospedales AKA “Papi” Charity Fund is intended to provide counselling, financial and emotional support to families who have endured similar tragedy.

Toussaint will return to court next month.

According to reports, waves of oil began washing ashore along the Carat Shed Beach, Coffee Beach, Station Beach and Point Sable, La Brea early on Saturday morning. However, a clean-up contractor, Tiger Tanks Limited, was dispatched to the area by Petrotrin, and by Monday morning, the majority of the beaches had been cleaned by the company.

In a telephone interview yesterday, La Borde observed that while fishermen had been affected by the oil slick, they would not be making “noise” about claims for compensation as the oil had not inflicted significant damage to their vessels.

“Yes, we were affected but we not going to jump out and make noise about money for those two days,” La Borde said, adding, “one thing we looking at is different types of oil came up there as compared to the ordinary oil that come up, that oil that came up there is something they are calling weathered oil, it was not really sticking onto the anchor rope or the throw line or sticking onto the boat also.” He continued, “It seems as if the oil spend some time out in the weather before it come onshore and that is why it really did not stick to the boats or the ropes.

That is the thought.” The Global Marine Oil Pollution Information gateway website notes that when different kinds of oil enter the sea, many physical, chemical and biological degradation processes start acting on them with some processes changing the properties and behaviour of the oil.

In Weathering, winds, waves and currents may result in natural dispersion, breaking a slick into droplets which are then distributed throughout the water.

These droplets may also result in the creation of a secondary slick or thin film (sheen) on the surface of the water.

Petrotrin, in a media statement on Saturday, described the oil as “oil pellets” and noted that a team of company personnel had visited the beaches and confirmed the presence of the oil pellets.

Meanwhile, La Borde observed that the source of the oil would not be identified by the company saying a similar spill had occurred last September and while Petrotrin had sent the oil sample for analysis, the source had not been made public by the company.

There are some years when you can afford to take a loss.” “In fact, it affects your tax position progressively,” Al Rawi stated adding Trinidad and Tobago could only find a solution to its problems “with all hands on deck”.

However, in a media release yesterday, Roopnarine, without identifying Al Rawi by name, pointed out that businesses had to operate “at a profit to pay outstanding bills which may include rent, salaries and taxes.”

“Please inform the business community, how do we pay taxes when we are running at a loss? Not all taxes paid are from profits earned and for some small businesses, it is only Green Fund and Business Levy Taxes being applicable,” Roopnarine stated, adding, “can you explain to us how do we pay NIS contributions and salaries? Can you tell us how we avoid losing our assets held by the banks?”

“The Penal Debe Chamber of Commerce is troubled to think that a senior member of Cabinet could make such a statement and signal to state boards indirectly that this is the norm, or this is acceptable,” he added. Roopnarine observed that the chamber would like to see all state companies operating at a profit and “releasing the business community and the taxpayers of this burden.”

“This is a dangerous mentality and needs to be shut down in infancy before this takes roots in other sectors,” he stated, adding, “I hope this was a genuine mistake because I am not aware of any business presently in operation and working towards not showing a profit this year.”

And referring to the runaway murder rate, Roopnarine described the situation as “appalling” and advised the Minister of National Security to “hold all stakeholders responsible” and not “settle for any increase in crime and murders.”

Speaking with reporters after casting her vote at the Lambeau Anglican Primary School at about 7.35am, Moore maintained that any Trinidadian going to Tobago to subvert the democratic will of Tobagonians ought to go back home. “We have no difficulty with any visitors to Tobago,” she said.

“What we have a problem with is persons who have been imported into this space to try to change the outcome of the will of residents.” Moore has come under fire for her claim made during a live radio interview in Scarborough on Friday.

She also has been chastised for advising hoteliers and operators of small guest houses to “not feed them (Trinidadians)…

treat them with scant courtesy and drop Visine in dey water.” Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has urged her to apologise for her remarks, which he felt, has the potential to damage relations between the two islands beyond the THA election. Moore yesterday made it clear she had no difficulty with visitors. “How can we?” she asked.

“Our entire economy runs on visitors but nobody invites somebody into their house so that they could destroy their house.

Nobody does that and certainly we cannot encourage that.” Moore argued that governance systems in Tobago worked in a particular way and visitors cannot come in and change that.

“That is wrong,” she said.

Moore, who was greeted with a long line when she arrived at the school to cast her ballot, said the party was very concerned about irregularities in the voting process.

She said: “We have voiced those concerns.

We have maintained throughout this election cycle that there has been mischief afoot in the camp of the PNM. “We have maintained that there has always been a plan that thwarts the will of Tobagonians.

Moore alleged last week that the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government was carrying Trinidadians into Tobago to vote in the election.

“I say to hoteliers and small guest house operators (in Tobago), when they come in yuh house, yuh know what? Don’t feed them.

We say treat them with scant courtesy, they must not be encouraged to come back, I say drop Visine (a brand of eye drops) in dey water, give them diarrhoea, they must go home.” Speaking with reporters yesterday at the Montgomery Government School in Bethel after she voted, Cudjoe described the statement as the “most reckless and irresponsible statement ever heard from a politician”.

“That is a quite unfortunate comment or unfortunate statement to come from the Tobago Forwards leader especially considering that she would have campaigned on tourism development a lot for the time of her campaign,” Cudjoe said.

“In Tobago, we depend so heavily on visitors coming from Trinidad to keep us afloat during the weaker months so it is just very unfortunate that she would have had that slip of tongue and even being asked two times or being told two times that it was an irresponsible statement, she said ‘no not at all’.” Cudjoe noted that with domestic tourism being such an important part of Tobago’s development, she is yet to hear any calls from the stakeholders for an apology.

“I didn’t hear the stakeholders condemning the comment or even saying anything, or even coming out and asking her for an apology or anything of that nature.

I found that rather strange.

A close family source told Newsday yesterday that while Dumas is doing much better, it was agreed by family members that he should be taken to Trinidad where the necessary treatment would be available much more speedily.

Dumas is staying at a private residence but will be given roundthe- clock monitoring, the source explained.

He stated that Dumas was discharged from the Scarborough General Hospital a few days ago after it was confirmed that he suffered a mild stroke on January 9.

On Friday at 10 am, there will be the opening of the score sheets at City Hall, Knox Street, Port of Spain when bands will find out which ones are selected for the National Panorama Single Pan Finals to be held at the Arima Velodrome in Arima on Sunday from 4 pm

However, the euphoria of four years ago when the party obliterated the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) 12-0, was tempered yesterday as Watson Duke, leader of the fledgling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), spoiled Balisier celebrations by winning two of the 12 seats on offer, thereby ensuring an Opposition voice in the Assembly with Duke set to assume the role of Minority Leader.

School teacher Farley Chavez Augustine, a first-timer in the election race and one of the stand outs of the PDP’s campaign, won the Parlatuvier/L’Anse Fourmi/ Speyside electoral district, while Duke who proved to be a thorn in the side of his political opponents, won in his hometown Roxborough/ Delaford seat, which he was favoured to win in the latter part of the campaign. Augustine, whose seat was declared shortly after 9 pm, received 954 votes while the PNM’s Marissa Williams and Tobago Forwards candidate Sparkle Taylor each received 753 votes.

Duke secured 1,261 votes, dethroning the PNM’s Gary Melville who got 949 votes. Tobago Forwards candidate Anthony Price got 34 votes while the Movement For Transformation’s (MFT) candidate Kassie-Blackman-Hercules received 14 votes.

Both the Christlyn Moore-led Tobago Forwards and the MFT, headed by former PNM Tobago East MP Eudine Job-Davis, did not win any of the 12 seats although there were some close calls in some electoral districts.

Yesterday’s poll took place against the backdrop of an extremely low voter-turnout and allegations of irregularities in the voting process.

The latter has not been substantiated by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) and the Tobago Division of the TT Police Service.

NEWSDAY SPOT ON More than 50,000 Tobagonians were eligible to vote yesterday but about 42 percent turned out to cast their ballot. The PNM’s victory validated a Newsday-commissioned poll conducted by HHB and Associates, which projected that the PNM would have won the election with PNM Tobago political leader Kelvin Charles being the best man to lead the THA. THA Chief Secretary- elect Charles won 1,050 votes to take the Black Rock/Whim/ Spring Garden seat, by a clear-cut margin.

The party’s other big winners included Ancil Dennis, who won the Buccoo/Mt Pleasant seat with 1291 votes, and Jomo Pitt (Lambeau/ Signal Hill) and Sheldon Cunningham (Providence/Speyside/Moriah), who got 1,183 and 1089 votes, respectively. At 10 pm, when many of the seats were declared, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and outgoing Chief Secretary Orville London danced alongside party officials and supporters at the PNM’s Tobago Council headquarters.

A visibly overwhelmed Charles, who quit his job as a THA Presiding Officer to contest the PNM’s Tobago Council leadership last July, also chatted and mingled with supporters. The Tobago Forwards, led by attorney and former justice minister Moore, did not win any of the 12 electoral district nor did the Eudine Job-Davis-led Movement for Transformation (MFT), which fielded just three candidates.

The Tobago Forwards is believed to have suffered a considerable decline in popularity, following Moore’s statements, during a live radio interview in Scarborough, last week, in which she claimed that the PNM were shuttling Trinidadians to Tobago to vote in the election.

Moore also advised hoteliers and small guest house operators to not feed these Trinis, treat them with scant courtesy and put visine in the water so that they would get diarrhoea and be forced return to Trinidad. (See Page 10A) In a brief address at the Tobago Forwards’ headquarters on Milford Road, Scarborough, she said she was glad that the PNM finally had some opposition in the THA.

Moore vowed to continue to work hard for the people of Tobago. In Roxborough, meanwhile, jubilation reigned as PDP supporters waved flags and danced through the streets to the music of the party’s signature campaign tune, “Rock and Come In.” ROWLEY: THANKS TOBAGO Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who arrived at the PNM headquarters in the sister isle at 9 pm, mingled with outgoing Chief Secretary Orville London as they awaited the formal results. Speaking later before a small crowd of PNM supporters, Rowley welcomed Charles to the post of Chief Secretary. Rowley thanked Tobago for reposing its faith in the PNM for a fifth consecutive four-year term.

“I heard a popular reporter say that the mood (in the PNM camp) is sombre and I wondered what she was talking about. I discovered, the PNM as usual, is held to such high standards that when you win ten to two, some people will think that you lost. I am telling you tonight, I will take ten to two any day of the week! Rowley said that as Prime Minister and leader of the PNM he was “excited” to work with the new THA management team headed by Charles and called on all elected officials to work for the people and maintain their integrity now that they are in public office.

Earlier in the day, while London said he had no problem with the voting process, MFT leader Job-Davis complained about the low voter-turnout.

“The voting process has been slow and it seems as though people really are not coming out. The people indicated they are not going to vote because they are not inspired to do such,” she told reporters after casting her vote at the Moriah Community Centre.

Job-Davis said many Tobagonians had no trust in their leaders.

“They are saying that it is a case of same-old, same-old,” she said.

The former Tobago East MP said Tobago needs a new brand of politics. “We have gotten our message out there,” she said.

POLICE ESCORT FOR DUKE PDP political leader Watson Duke was escorted to the polling station at Roxborough Anglican Primary School to cast his vote.

Unlike the other three political leaders vying for the Chief Secretary position, Duke was the only person followed in and out of the polling station, out onto the main road.

Speaking after he cast his vote, Duke said “It was very efficient (voting process) and at least the State cared enough to allow two police to attend to me as I proceeded to exercise my duties. It was good, everything went smooth to my expectations.” Asked if the instruction from police to have him escorted surrounded his matters before the court, Duke said, “there’s no connection between that (five charges).

“The good police officers will exercise of their duties and respect for what I bring to the table they felt it best that I proceed to the pole with any interruptions or any form of untoward activity.” As to why he was stopped by officers from the Roxborough Police Station, Duke said he was uncertain of the reason.

“But certainly, they informed me that they were advised to accompany me. I have not been accustomed to that as I am a simple man and a man on the ground.

“Maybe this is a new protocol, maybe the writing is on the wall, maybe I have to ride off with them at midnight tonight at my home (Moriah).” Contacted for comment on why Duke had a police escort, head of Tobago Division, Ag Snr Supt Joanne Archie told Newsday no instruction was given to any police officer to escort him to and from the polling station. S he said the officers “innocently” walked along with Duke as he arrived and as he left.

(Additional reporting by Kinnesha George & Elizabeth Gonzales)

We urge all sides to act to end child marriage in a manner consistent with constitutional rights.

The Opposition must support the Government’s move to raise the marriageable age to 18. At the same time, the Government cannot ride roughshod over the Opposition and willfully pass defective law.

We reject outright the Opposition UNC’s suggestion that this matter be referred to a Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament.

This is a complex issue, yes, but this legislation is simple enough for measures to be taken on the Parliament floor. What is more, this matter is an urgent one. The lives of children are at stake. A further delay of three to six months is unconscionable.

There has been enough debate.

In fact, on this issue we daresay there has been too much. The argument for upholding the rights of a child cannot be trumped by narrow sectarian interests or by the belief held by some sects within religious communities. Those beliefs must be balanced by the interest of society as a whole, a society wedded to the principle of liberty.

Frankly, however, we are baffled by the decision taken by the Government in relation to the majority required to pass the law. It is manifest that the entire problem of child marriage arises because of religion: it is the various faiths across the divide which have institutionalised this practice in the first place, resulting in centuries- old laws enforcing religious belief.

We believe the State should be secular, but we do not believe that in reforming the law the State can bury its head in the sand and pretend that a constitutional majority is not required. If the requisite majority could not be obtained in the Senate, the debate should have come to an end.

At the same time, the bizarre position is understandable given the Opposition’s equally offensive demand that the matter be subject to a JSC by this stage. This is a simple Bill, and widespread Government consultation exercises have already been held on this matter. What is more, MPs are in a position to receive input from civil society groups should they require more feedback. Claims of inadequate consultation ring hollow when anyone can walk into the office of their representative. A JSC is wholly unnecessary and to suggest that one is needed in these circumstances smacks of an attempt to frustrate the Government.

If indeed the UNC is in support of raising the marriage age to 18, it should put its money where its mouth is and do what it must to facilitate the passage of this Bill expeditiously.

An issue involving the welfare of children is not one for political grandstanding.

If the Government seeks to pass the law with a simple majority, a perverse situation will develop.

The law will be assumed to be law even though everyone suspects it is not law. Needless to say, this will represent a low point in this country’s history of democracy under the rule of law.

It would fall to some civil society individual or organisation to go to court to challenge the law.

In which case, such a person will be seen as deliberately campaigning for a right to marry children, though the court may interpret the matter on a purely formal basis.

The outside possibility is for the Judiciary to somehow make a policy ruling on this matter: removing child marriage from the books. But the Judiciary would be placed in a perilous position if called upon to do this, as it would be seen to have acted where MPs declined to unite and to act.

Unite and act they must. We know this is the season of ole mas.

But please, let good sense prevail.

Both sides need to work together on this issue and end child marriage once and for all.