I for one welcomed the advent of “Internet banking” because it saved me the trouble of having to go into the bank and stand in long lines with inadequate amount of tellers to deal with me, even if only to answer a query. Now it seems there is a shortage of employees to deal with online queries.

If you call on the phone to query an Internet problem, it seems like “all of our agents are still engaged, please stay on the line” is the “road march” in this republic of ours.

I recently had an experience that caused me to be holding on for an agent to deal with me, while my phone bill kept going up, not happily jumping to the road march.

Even if there is a toll free number to call it probably would be backed up with callers making me wonder if I shouldn’t just go back into the bank and take my “licks” standing up in the long lines with the rest of the unfortunate people who have to. Just to have a query answered.

Where we really heading? Or have we reached?

W DOPSON Woodbrook, PoS

According to reports, Customs officers were yesterday conducting routine checks at the port, when they noticed a particular barrel had an unusually large amount of alcohol in it. When the customs officers checked further they made the discovery.

Police were immediately alerted and Port of Spain Division officers responded.

The money was handed over to the police who placed the cash in a steel vault.

While police are still trying to find out who may have brought the cash into the country, investigators believe the barrel may have originated from either Miami or New York.

Last week, firearms including the AR-15 Assault Rifle and ammunition were found in barrels at a bond warehouse in El Socorro.

Investigations are ongoing.

According to reports, at about 10 am on Saturday, officers led by Senior Superintendent Macdonald Jacob and ASP Mervyn Edwards along with Sgt Grant, Debier and others, cordoned off the Maloney Housing Estate and detained the 21-year-old and seized a .45 Colt Beretta which was found on him.

Police told Newsday yesterday they have reason to believe the gun seized may have been used in the shooting of the brother and sister on Friday night. The same team of officers also seized another pistol during the exercise but no one was held in connection with that seizure.

On Friday, at about 9.05 pm, the siblings were at Building Seven in the company of their mother Leander Alexander, on a stairwell of the apartment complex, when Liam was shot in the left hand and Laell on her right hand.

Police believe the shooter was firing at a rival gang member and the brother and sister were caught in the corssfire.

Yesterday, the siblings remained warded at thre Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex and were listed as being in stable condition.

In his substantive claim, Singh said because of the discriminatory practices at his workplace, he has missed numerous opportunities to act as in a higher position because his degree in Resource, Recreation and Tourism was not recognised and did not constitute a Bachelor of Science in Forestry.

He said in April 2015, his complaint was acknowledged by Ombudsman Lynette Stevenson, SC, and he was promised a response but never received one and this prompted him to file the FOIA request. Singh said he was informed by the Ombudsman that her office was not a public authority subject to the FOIA.

He filed a judicial review claim in May 2016 which was dismissed by Justice Andre des Vignes in March of this year.

Singh appealed and the judge’s ruling was reversed by a majority decision in the appeal court. Singh’s attorney, former attorney general Anand Ramlogan argued before Justices of Appeal Allan Mendonca, Nolan Bereaux and Peter Rajkumar that the Office of the Ombudsman was set up by the Constitution and financed by tax payers with public funds. He said the Office of the Ombudsman had an important rule and function as it provided an avenue for the average citizen to seek redress for injustice caused by faults in public administration.

He said the law provided that elected Members of Parliament could refer aggrieved constituents to the Ombudsman for assistance and the issue of whether the Ombudsman was governed by the FOIA was an important issue that should be determined in the public interest.

In their majority ruling, delivered by Justice Rajkumar, the court agreed that it was one of public interest and reversed the order of the high court, granting permission to Singh to pursue his judicial review claim. Also appearing for Singh were attorneys Jayanti Lutchmedial, Douglas Bayley instructed by Alana Rambaran.

The Ombudsman was represented by Elton Prescott,SC, and Rikki Harnanan.

NGC said the Offer Price was determined based on the closing market price of the TTNGL Class B shares on June 2, 2017; the last trading day prior to approval of the Prospectus .

NGC reminded in his October 16, 2017 presentation of the 2016 – 2017 budget, Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, “indicated that the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago intended to make an offer for an additional sale of its shareholding in TTNGL through its nominee, NGC. The proceeds from this sale are intended to fund the Government’s Fiscal Programme.” Chairman of the NGC Group of Companies, Gerry Brooks, endorsed the share offer .

“The figures tell the story,” he said. “In 2016, TTNGL’s dividend yield was 7.14 percent — the highest dividend yield on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange .

TTNGL recorded after tax earnings of $56.9 million in Q1 (first quarter) of 2017. Earnings per share for the period were $0.37, compared to $0.20 for 2016 – an improvement of 85.0 percent. The Q1 after tax profits represents an 88.4 percent improvement when compared to the same quarter in 2016. In Q1 2016, a profit of $30.2 million was recorded.” Brooks also pointed out that these significantly improved profits were driven by improved share of profit from the underlying asset of TTNGL; Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited (PPGPL). PPGPL was at “an advanced stage of implementation of its full portfolio of gas processing initiatives which were being pursued to diversify and enhance its earnings on a sustainable basis,” Brooks stated .

NGC said this, coupled with a sensible cost and cash management philosophy, created a robust cash and balance sheet position which enabled TTNGL to maintain its dividend payout ratio. At TTNGL’s second annual Annual General Meeting (AGM), held at Hilton Trinidad on April 25, 2017, Brooks stated that a decision was also made to pay dividends in either US dollars or TT dollars .

Upon completion of the Offer on June 28, 2017, and assuming a fully-subscribed Offer, public investors will hold 100 percent of Class B Shares of TTNGL. NGC said this shareholding will represent a 75 percent effective ownership interest in PPGPL by citizens of TT, which amounts to 29.25 percent effective ownership interest in PPGPL. NGC’s effective ownership of PPGPL will be reduced from 63 percent to 52 percent but will still maintain control of the PPGPL board .

Pierre, 35, and 17-year-old Jabari Ettienne were gunned down while playing a card game with others men. An autopsy done yesterday confirmed that Pierre died from a gunshot wound to the chest. His relatives said Pierre was not the intended target as he was left with a quantity of cash on his person.

He was described as a person who loved to gamble. “He loved playing cards…He liked football and thing, yes, but he liked playing cards more than anything else,” said brother Wendell.

Newsday understands that Pierre and Ettienne were among four people playing cards at the liming spot in Phase 2, when masked gunmen ran up to the group and began shooting. Pierre was shot and slumped to the ground. Ettienne managed to run out of the liming spot and began running toward his home.

The gunmen gave chase and shot Ettienne multiple times mere steps away from his home.

As the gunmen fled the scene, Ettienne’s relatives grabbed him up and rushed him to the San Fernando General Hospital, however he succumbed to his injuries. Pierre was also taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

“This significant find unlocks approximately two trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, which when monetised by 2020 – 2021, is likely to translate into major social benefits to the people. “While the prospects are quite favourable, with improvements in our gas supply, it is sobering to note that the recent discoveries do not signal the immediate end to the revenue-generating challenge our country is currently experiencing,” the chamber said in a press release.

Urging that TT does not, ‘lose sight of our larger national goals and objectives towards a transformed and diversified economy’, the Chamber yesterday said while BPTT’s find will undoubtedly foster foreign direct investment in the upstream, “We must work determinedly towards change in the downstream sectors and industries.” Be it in business, government or the labour movement, the chamber cautioned that TT can, at times, become preoccupied with short-term successes that provide mere transitory relief.

“(We are) of the firm view that on this occasion and going forward, nothing must distract us from our long-term commitment to a transformed economy.

There is a great deal more to be done…

At all costs, we must avoid being lulled into complacency or sidetracked by short-term successes,” the Chamber stated.

The Skills Award Competition is used to assess the skills of the student athletes outside the game setting. Given an allotted time, each team goes through a series of drills designed to test the basic skills in hockey, with the overall winner being the school with the most repetitions at the end of the circuit.

St Joseph Boys RC (team 2) won the Boys category, ahead of Dunross Preparatory and St Joseph Boys RC (team 1) while, in the Girls section, Arima Centenary were triumphant, with Maloney Government in second spot.

An attorney, who witnessed the spectacle of young children trembling from the cold under a tarpaulin during early morning showers yesterday, wrote up documents and rushed to the San Fernando High Court to file a judicial review lawsuit against Minister of Housing Randall Mitchell.

The lawsuit seeks the court’s direction to the Housing Development Authority (HDC) to at least instruct the San Fernando City Corporation to allow these families permission to occupy the San Fernando Centre for the Displaced.

The families were evicted last month from several apartments in an HDC housing development at Harmony Hall where the buildings containing the apartments were several years ago, deemed unsafe for human habitation.

Allison Dick, Malika Lewis, the Martin and Phillips families have been living on the road outside the Harmony Hall HDC development which is a few meters from the Gasparillo junction. The apartment complex was deemed unfit in 2012, and as a result, occupants were relocated. Several other families then moved into the vacant apartments.

Attorney Cherry Ann Rajkumar filed the judicial review application in which she stated that at 4.20 am yesterday, there was continuous rainfall which made life unbearable for the evicted families. According to court documents filed, Dick informed the attorney that her children got wet and have fallen ill.

Rajkumar named the parties to the lawsuit as the ‘Asphalt Pitch Pavement Dwellers’ of Harmony Hall who are seeking judicial review against refusal of the Minister of Housing Randall Mitchell, to perform his statutory duty to properly direct the HDC board regarding shelter for the applicants.

At the very least, the lawsuit contends, the HDC should provide emergency shelter to the displaced residents. The attorney stated in the application that she first heard about the plight of the applicants when she read in the newspapers, that 25 families among them babies, were evicted and have since been living on the unsheltered steps of the HDC complex, the corridors of the building and lately, the roadside under makeshift tents.

“I view them as displaced because as a result of the poverty, inadequate livelihood and inability to afford a stable place of shelter,” attorney Rajkumar stated.

The act or inaction of the State in allowing its citizens to be subjected to the elements of nature such that it placed life and limb at risk, amounts to cruel and harsh punishment by the State.

And this amounts, therefore, to a breach of their rights as enshrined in the constitution (Section 4 c) which is the right of a citizen to be treated with respect, and that of his family life, the attorney claimed. The lawsuit comes up for hearing tomorrow before Justice Margaret Mohammed in the San Fernando High Court.

Hafeisha Dillon, 28, of Globe Theatre Lane, San Juan appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John in the Port of Spain Magistrates Court yesterday, on a charge that on May 31, at the Piarco Bond area of Piarco Air Services in El Socorro, she imported prohibited goods, namely 19 firearms, contrary to Section 213 of the Customs Act.

She was not called upon to enter a plea as the charge was laid indictably.

Attorney for the Customs and Excise Division Harricharran Cassie asked the magistrate to consider the nature of the items and set a substantial bail with conditions that Dillon surrender her passport and report to the police station in her district. In his application for bail, Dillon’s attorney Devvon Williams who appeared with attorney Kelston Pope, submitted that his client was previously on a bond which has since expired and is a geriatric nurse at a private home in Saddle Vale, Santa Cruz. He said she lives with her mother and family in San Juan and asked that reasonable bail be set since it would take some time for the prosecution to get the necessary analysis reports.

He also questioned the strength of the evidence and asked her to not put too much weight on the nature of the items allegedly seized.

In granting bail, Magistrate Forde- John ordered Dillon to surrender her passport and report to the San Juan Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She will return to court on July 3.

At yesterday’s hearing, the exhibits, contained in a large blue plastic barrel, were brought to court. In all there were two assault rifles, two shot guns and 15 pistols and handguns.

The barrel also contained a quantity of Boost Nutritional drinks, a large Purina Dog Chow bag and two large all purpose flour bags. It is alleged that the barrel originated from Canada.