NIPDEC attorney apologises to Jearlean

FORMER Transport Min-ister Jearlean John accepted apologies yesterday from NIPDEC’s attorney for statements by the company’s officials which she claimed had damaged her reputation and caused her to get depressed and ill.

The apologies were made   by Christopher Hamel-Smith when he questioned John yesterday at the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport Project. Hamel-Smith is leading Jonathon Walker. The apology came at the end of Hamel-Smith’s questioning. He asked John if it was fair to say that she was very hurt and stressed by NIPDEC General Manager Margaret Thom-pson’s suggestion that the date for the opening of the airport was chosen to coincide with the birthday of  then Prime Minister Basdeo Panday. John replied yes. John was also asked if it was fair to say that she was also hurt and upset by the suggestion from NIPDEC Project Manager Kenneth Critchlow that she had arranged for air handlers to be moved from an upstairs location in the airport, to the downstairs location of the Pizza Boys outlet. She agreed, pointing out that it damaged her reputation and made her depressed and sick.

She later asked if Hamel-Smith was offering an apology. She said if it was allowed she would accept it because she didn’t expect such statements to be made by Thompson and Critchlow. John said she thought they were decent people. Hamel-Smith told John he was instructed that at no time was NIPDEC aware that the opening had to do with Panday’s birthday. He said NIPDEC was also unaware of a letter from BWIA’s Chief Executive Officer Conrad Aleong stating that the cut off date for the opening was May 26, because its peak season was at the beginning of June. Hamel-Smith said in the circumstances that “yes, we apologise to you for the insinuation otherwise”.

Earlier, Hamel-Smith spent time questioning John to show that before her arrival on the project, under the Inter-ministerial Committee chaired by then Housing Minister John Humphrey, things were very different on the project. She agreed, noting that with her approach there were high levels of savings. Hamel-Smith showed John instances of NIPDEC advising both BHC and Peter Cateau, the client representative, about the costs and delays associated with circumventing fuel lines rather than using the jack and bore method, and of BHC’s and Cateau’s disregard of that advice. John agreed that BHC and Cateau “poured cold water” on NIPDEC’s advice and while she admitted that Critchlow would have had a difficult time, she insisted that he could have called Cateau and complained. John will return next Monday to be questioned by Cateau’s attorney Keith Scotland.