The body of calypso icon, the late Aldwin “Lord Kitchener” Roberts, might be exhumed from his grave in the Santa Rosa RC Church cemetery at Arima.

That’s the word from his common-law widow Val Green, speaking to Sunday Newsday on Friday. She said that exhumation may be the only way for her to get to erect a memorial monument to the Grandmaster. Green explained that uncertainty over the ownership and the allocation of the burial plot holding Kitch has so far prevented her from obtaining permission to erect a permanent tombstone to him. She recalled that when Kitch died three years ago, the plot had been assigned to bury him by the then parish priest who has since left Trinidad and Tobago.  Former parish priest, Fr Leo Donovan, is now reportedly in Ireland.

Green said: “The plot belongs to the St Vincent de Paul organisation, which now is seeking another spot from the Santa Rosa Church in exchange. But now there is a problem. We have been asked whether the plot was given to us ‘legally’ or just by word of mouth. What arrangement was made? We have been told that until we find out that, we can only put up a temporary memorial. We said no! “If we cannot get the spot where Kitch is buried, we will exhume him and bury him in Tacarigua. Mr Belgrove told us he is getting his own cemetery. So far we are getting a runaround to find out anything. Meanwhile people are calling me on the phone and quarelling with me, that the grave is in a mess. The Lord Kitchener Memorial Committee decided to let the newspapers and the public know what’s going on. We already have the headstone and the money to do the tombstone, but are getting a runaround, so we might just exhume the body.” Green said: “We had wanted to install the memorial for the April 18 which is Kitch’s 80th birthday, or even for Glorious Sunday or Easter, but now this seems very  unlikely.”

She said that Keith Belgrove (of Cemetery Management Company) is helping her to settle the issue by having met the RC Church and St Vincent de Paul. Contacted yesterday, Belgrove confirmed: “I feel this matter should be resolved.” He confirmed that he is currently applying to establish a cemetery in Tacarigua, although acknowledging that this could be a lengthy procedure. Green said: “The design of the tomb has already been done by Mr Belgrove and the headstone has been engraved and is just sittting at Belgrove’s in South.” Belgrove noted that the tombstone would take just two days to install.

CRIME has put a stop to youth deve-lopment classes in Laventille, said Cynthia Milan, secretary of the Laventille Drug Abuse Demand Reduction Committee (LDADRC) .

Milan made the disclosure yesterday as the Committee celebrated its Fourth Annual Community Health Fair. Up until 3 pm,  the expected visit by Prime Minister Patrick Manning did not materialise. According to officials of the Committee, the PM’s visit was expected at 1 pm at the Laventille Youth Facility where the fair is being held. The fair, which was formally opened by Carol Ann Sennah, Deputy Director Health Education Division, had on display several product booths. There was also a nurses’ booth which provided free pressure and “sugar” tests.

In an interview with Sunday Newsday,  Milan talked about the Committee’s struggle to improve the community and help the youths. The major problem, she noted, was the crime wave which has hit Laventille communities.  She said that most of their youth development classes, which are held late evenings, are empty  because people are afraid to come out at nights. She lamented that the organisation has so much to offer the youths and the community as a whole but because of the crime, a lot of projects are  grinding to a halt. The Committee, which has been taken under the wings of the National Alcohol Drug Abuse Prevention Programme, has found a home at the Laventille Youth Facility. Apart from its literature on drug abuse, the Committee also runs a library, courtesy the Canadian High Commission.

A SUSPENDED Special Reserve Policeman (SRP) was up to late yesterday being interrogated in connection with the shooting of a Highway Patrol officer and a robbery at a Tunapuna furniture store which occurred earlier in the day.

Reports are that around 12.15 pm, four armed men, three of whom were armed with cutlasses, the other with a .380 Baretta pistol, entered Ramsaroop’s Furniture Store, Eastern Main Road, El Dorado. Police said the men announced a hold-up, then placed a gun to the head of proprietor, Basdeo Ramsaroop, 67.  The bandits then robbed the store of $22,000.

A passerby spotted the commotion and contacted Emergency-999, after which Highway Patrol officers, PCs Edric Jeremy and Bassant, responded. The two officers confronted the bandits and police said the gunman shot PC Jeremy on the right thigh.  The officers returned fire, but the four bandits escaped in two vehicles, one a red B13 Sentra, the other a B12.  However, the B13, in which there were two occupants, crashed about 200 metres from where the robbery incident occurred. That vehicle is believed by the police to have been stolen from taxi driver Michael Ramsahai in the St Augustine area on Friday night, when Ramsahai was abducted. 

A party of officers under acting Cpl Ramrattan Jugmohan and including PCs Raymond Thom and Nigel De Silva of the St Joseph and Tunapuna Criminal Investigations Department (CID) respon-ded after hearing a transmission from the Emergency-999 Command Centre in St James. After the melee, police said the alleged gunman, a 32-year-old SRP, was held with a .380 Baretta pistol. He reportedly screamed out to officers not to shoot him. He was taken to the Tunapuna CID, while his three accomplices escaped and had not been caught up to late evening.

Senior officers under Sr Supt Rodvan Bastien, acting Supt Leon Anthony, ASP Errol Dillon, acting Insp Bullen and Sgt Garrick responded later.  Police sources said the SRP, who has approximately 12 years service, has been on suspension for about five years, and has six matters for robbery-related offences pending. The SRP is also said to be fitting the description of one of the men who held up and robbed the St Augustine branch of Mario’s Pizzeria on Friday night. Meantime, PC Jeremy, police said, is resting comfortably at the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex, although the bullet is still lodged in his leg. Acting Cpl Jugmohan of the Tunapuna CID is continuing investigations.

Attorney General Glenda Morean-Phillip is calling on UNC Leader Basdeo Panday to demonstrate his commitment to help eradicate crime by supporting the Kidnapping Bill which is to be debated in the Senate this week.

Morean-Phillip was speaking to reporters at the start of a walkathon held at Memorial Park yesterday. The walkathon was held by the Ministry of the Attorney General in support of the eradication of crime and violence in the country. The AG stated that Panday’s reported intentions in seeking meetings with the Minister of National Security and the Commissioner of Police to offer his party’s assistance in fighting the crime situation, would be welcomed. She continued, “The Government has always believed that the fight against crime is a national security issue that should not be driven by partisan politics.”

Morean-Phillip said that the latest kidnapping incidents target not only the wealthy but also children which shows a clear need for both Government and Opposition to work together to fight this threat to the country’s security. She said she hoped that Panday would also support the Police Reform Legislation which “will give the police the ammunition necessary to tackle the crime problem in general and the kidnapping issue in particular.” The AG stated that a responsible Opposition would support the Police Reform Legislation.

A FOURTH man was yesterday charged with the murder of teenager Ashley Mathlin who was beaten and stabbed to death last month in the vicinity of Prosperity Bar, Bournes Road, St James, police sources said.

The murder charge against the 24-year-old Laventille man was laid by Sgt Nandram Moonilal, after an identification parade was held and instructions given by Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Geoffrey Henderson. The man was held in the Laventille district on Friday and is due to put in a court appearance tomorrow at the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court. Two men have already appeared in court and police said a warrant has been issued for the arrest of another man in connection with the Mathlin murder. Mathlin, 18, was beaten by a group of men, one of whom stabbed him. He died on the spot.

THE  Head of the World Muslim League, local scholar Dr Waffie Mohammed, has delivered a stinging blow to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein saying that the current war against his country was of his (Saddam’s) own making.

Mohammed, who addressed muslim worshippers at the weekly prayer (Juma) service at Jama Mosque, Queen Street, Port-of-Spain, said Saddam’s leadership had witnessed many atrocities and aggression committed against his own muslim followers. But despite this strong viewpoint, Mohammed said that the United States’ invasion of Iraq was a right it had usurped upon itself. He also accused the US of practicing double standards in its relations with the Middleast.

Mohammed told the large congregation: “We have had in the leadership of Saddam Hussein, examples of atrocities and aggression on believers. He was a faithful servant of the Kuffar — mutilating his own people. He never observed the law that Allah ordained for taking lives.” “Hussein has held on to political power in Iraq like other rulers,” he added, “by force and aggression. But all evil does ‘fall’,”  the WML chairman said, “and when they do “it is a relief for the people, the land and the animals”. But severely critical of United States policy in the Middle East, Mohammed told the congregation that the US did not have a right to invade and by so doing, destroy the country’s infrastructure.

He accused the US of practicing double standards, saying that the ultimate aim was to their benefit. Mohammed noted that the US had accused Iraq of having weapons of mass destruction, but were assisting Israel in building similar weapons. Mohammed said that after the destruction and invasion, “the US will now purchase Iraqi oil at a price to be decided by itself”. And more than likely, he added, use the revenue to pay its own people to rebuild the country. But Mohammed anticipates that such development will only serve to stir more anti-American hate globally. Mohammed called upon muslims in Trinidad and Tobago to pray for the people of Iraq  in their time of need and suffering.

BRITISH authorities are investigating whether a Venezuelan with Trinidadian parentage, found in February with a hand grenade in his luggage at London’s Gatwick Airport, has ties to Al Qaeda or other Mideast terrorist groups.

Hazil Mohammed Rahaman, 37, who studied in Saudi Arabia to become an Islamic spiritual leader, raised suspicions because his passport showed he had spent the last three years touring countries that included Afghanistan, Pakistan, Trinidad, Yemen and Sudan. Scotland Yard and secret police in London are now combing bank accounts, telephone records and other travel documents to determine whether Rahaman, who suffered from serious depression, might have been part of an Al Qaeda cell seeking to launch a surprise attack from an unexpected base – South America.

Rahaman would fly to Trinidad or Europe before buying tickets for travel onwards to places such as Afghanistan and Sudan. According to investigators, this was done in an attempt to conceal his movements from Venezuela officials. Rahaman was born in Venezuela to a mother (Afrose) from Trinidad and a father from Suriname, both Muslims of Indian descent. Rahaman and his wife have a daughter, now 11 years old. His father died in 1998. A few months later, his wife divorced him and returned with their daughter to her family’s home in Trinidad.

Venezuela’s Margarita Island, a tourist destination with a large Arab population, has been identified by investigators as a source of funding and site of money laundering for the Hezbollah and Hamas militant groups. Investigators say Rahaman has ties to the region where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet. Local Arab traders there are accused of sending millions of dollars to Hamas and Hezbollah. US, Argentine and Israeli authorities believe the area was the launching site for bombing attacks in Buenos Aires against the Israeli Embassy in 1992 that killed 29 people and a Jewish community centre in 1994 that left 87 dead.

Brazilian federal police also said recently that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged Al Qaeda chief of operations and Sept 11 mastermind, who was arrested this month in Pakistan, visited the triple-border region at least twice in the 1990s. And in 1999, police captured an Egyptian terrorism suspect affiliated with Al Qaeda, who established himself at the triple border to set up a network there.

Rahaman had phone contact and other ties with suspected extremists in the triple-border region. It is not clear whether Rahaman travelled to the area. Investigators in Europe and Venezuela have not yet determined what Rahaman’s target might have been. But if he turns out to have been part of an Al Qaeda operation, it would mark the first time the group has tried to launch an attack from Latin America, raising fears of a new front in the US government’s war on terrorism just hours from Miami.

Rahaman was arrested February 13 when British customs inspectors found a hand grenade in a large duffel bag as he was leaving the baggage claim area at Gatwick airport. He had flown to London on a British Airways flight that originated in Colombia and made stops in Caracas and Barbados. Rahaman was charged with three counts under Britain’s Terrorism Act and remains in custody.

At first, his attempt was dismissed as the clumsy work of a lone actor,  like the initial reaction to the so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid. But Reid turned out to be an Al Qaeda operative who had trained at Afghan camps and had contact with terrorist networks in Europe that funded his plot and provided him with explosives. Now, authorities say that Rahaman’s effort, too, was more sophisticated than first believed. The grenade was carefully concealed in an electrical appliance in the duffel bag, which had been wrapped in plastic and marked “Fragile”. The grenade was live, though it was not attached to any timing device.

Investigators are also looking into a circuitous money transaction used to buy the British Airways ticket. Through a third party, Rahaman arranged to give 900 euros in cash to a former Venezuelan police officer, who then used his credit card to purchase the passage. The police officer has been interviewed, and is not believed to be involved in any plot. But what most concerns investigators is Rahaman’s extensive travels. Besides Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Trinidad and Sudan, Rahaman also visited Germany, the US and the United Kingdom several times in the last few years. In addition to Britain, a second European  government has opened an investigation of Rahaman as a result of his arrest.

Officials say they are still not sure what Rahaman planned to do with the grenade, although they insisted it could not have been detonated while the plane was in flight. Rahaman’s mother, Afrose, said her son was always interested in Islam, and through his father’s work, won a scholarship to study Arabic and religion at the University of Islam in Medina in the 1980s. He came home from Saudi Arabia in 1989 after completing four years of a five-year programme. Afrose Rahaman said her son wanted to get married and start a life in Venezuela, although he always intended to return to his studies to become an Imam, or spiritual leader.

Rahaman plunged into a deep depression and was hospitalised at a psychiatric clinic for two weeks. He began taking antidepressants. Al Qaeda has at times used educated, deeply religious men with a history of addiction or mental problems to carry out operations. Around that same time, Rahaman had begun working as a receptionist at the Sheik Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz al Ibrahim mosque in Caracas, the second-largest in Latin America. His ability to speak three languages — English, Spanish and Arabic — as  well as his religious training turned him into a de facto public relations director.

In November 2000, Rahaman resigned from his job at the mosque, saying that he could no longer work there while struggling with the loss of his father and wife. Later that month, he went to Saudi Arabia for a religious pilgrimage. It was the last time the family saw him. After that, he made only occasional calls home to assure them that he was safe and well, but never revealing his whereabouts. His mother does not discount the possibility that mental illness could have led him to bring a grenade onboard the plane, although she insists he would have never attempted to harm others. Even now, Afrose Rahaman cannot believe that her son is sitting in a British jail, accused of terrorism. “I will not believe it until I see him with my own eyes,” she said. “He is a child of God. He is a child of God.”

Businessman Gerald Montes de Oca, has left an estate valued more than $2.5M to his wife and children. He has also left $5,000 for Servol Limited and another $5,000 to the Salvation Army.

In his 1983 will, Montes de Oca named Royal Bank Trinidad and Tobago Trust Limited as Executor and Trustee of his estate. Montes de Oca died at age 83, of heart failure at his Valsayn home on December 29, 2002. According to his will, filed for probate by RBTT Trust Ltd on February 26, 2003, Montes de Oca, left his $1.8M house at Valsayn to his wife Rajpatee. He also left her his stock in Sandy Beach Ltd, all his stock units in Valpark Shopping Ltd,  and whatever motorcar (s) he may have owned at his time of death.

The will also stated that the remainder of his real and personal estate will go in trust with RBTT for his children Jacqueline, Gary and Natasha Montes de Oca, until they are of  age 19.  In the meantime, the Trustees will see to the children’s education and other needs. RBTT’s inventory of the deceased estate are as follows: His Valsayn house was valued at $1,850,000 and  a Nissan Sentra car, valued $29,000.  Shares —  Lever Brothers West Indies Ltd, $40,500; Trinidad Aggregate Products Ltd, $573,920 and  RBTT Financial Holdings Ltd, $175,000. The total was $2,668,420. The application for probate was made by RBTT’s Trust Service manager Christine Ragoobar and filed by attorney Anuradha Ramdath of the law firm M Hamel-Smith and Co.

The Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco airport project has entered its second phase. That is the phase where persons who were implicated by the evidence of witnesses are summoned to appear to challenge the evidence by cross-examination, direct evidence or by calling supporting witnesses. Last Friday marked the 116th day of the Inquiry.

Tuesday
Jearlean John tried to fire Cateau but ‘magician’ kept his job

FORMER Transport Minister Jearlean John tried to fire Peter Cateau, her Ministry’s representative on the Piarco airport development project. This was revealed on Tuesday when the inquiry resumed. It was also revealed that her predecessor Minister of Works and Transport, Sadiq Baksh, never acted on Cateau’s suggestion that an independent auditing firm be hired to balance the books on the controversial project. John at the time was being questioned by Cateau’s attorney, Dawn Mohan.

Referring to Cateau’s contract, John explained the conditions under which the Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT) representative could be dismissed. Asked by Mohan if she ever tried to fire Cateau, the former minister replied: “Yes, I did. Through the PS (Permanent Secretary of the MOWT)”. Questioned how Cateau was able to keep his job, John declared: “Birds of a feather.  He got them to renew it unilaterally. It was not because of a lack of action on the part of the Ministry. He is a magician.” She disagreed with Mohan that Cateau was a hard-working patriot. According to John, Cateau never complained to her that he was overburdened but seemed to believe he was a “powerful man”.

Wednesday
NIPDEC GM: Bayley excused himself from project

THE FORMER Chairman of NIPDEC, Edward Bayley, at no time ever participated in discussions or negotiations for contracts as they pertained to the Piarco airport development project. On April 25, 1998 he indicated to the Board that based on information given in Parliament, he was a Director of Maritime, and out of an abundance of caution he would not preside over matters dealing with the project. Confirmation of these details were given on Wednesday by Margaret Thompson, NIPDEC’s General Manager when she was questioned by Bayley’s attorney, Sonny Maharaj, SC.

Thompson recalled being told on September 10, 1998 by Bayley of her appointment as Acting General Manager. His announcement was made in the presence of several directors at a board meeting. She also confirmed that at the same meeting she was told that Trevor Romano, a Director, would act as liaison between herself and the Board because she was new in the position. Thompson said it was not true to say that Bayley had lied to her about Romano’s role, because it was not recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Thompson agreed that when she was promoted she received a $15,000 monthly acting allowance taking her monthly salary to $30,000.

Friday
Airport boss: There was a security shortage

FORMER head of security at Piarco International Airport, Dennis John wrote to a Transition Manager on December 14, 1999, complaining about shortage of security officers at the airport. This eventually led to management incurring a cost of $294,475 a month. This was revealed  by Linus Rogers, chairman of the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT), when he was cross-examined by Dennis John’s attorney, Sean Cazabon. The AATT chairman was recalled to the Piarco Airport Commission of Inquiry by Cazabon who said he was seeking clarification on some issues based on evidence given by Rogers on November 18, 2002.

Quoting from the letter written by John, Rogers said John wrote that in 1984 the AATT approved 147 security officers, among them 125 Estate Constables. John wrote that 143 Estate Constables were deployed on a 24-hour shift system for one year, but in December of 1998, there were only 97 Estate Constables on shift duty. This shortage, John claimed, placed a heavy burden on the officers and had a direct effect on transit flights which forced management to incur an additional cost of $294,475 per month. The letter further stated that security officers complained of ill health. Rogers said attempts to rectify the situation proved futile and there were legal constraints between the AATT and the Estate Police Association. “So from this letter, we can safely say that John did everything in his power to solve the overtime problem,” attorney Cazabon put to Rogers.