Airport Inquiry — Week in Review

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. So far the Commission has sat for 128 days. It will resume on Monday at 9.30 am.

Tuesday
Gopee ditches Inquiry, NIPDEC afraid of Humphrey

FORMER Airports Authority (AA) Chairman Tyrone Gopee withdrew from the Inquiry on Tuesday. At the start of the sitting Gopee’s attorney Carol Gobin announced that Gopee would no longer be participating, for which the reasons were outlined in a letter dated April 17, 2003. In the letter, Gobin claimed the Commission was acting contrary to Section 7 of the Commission of Inquiry Act Chap 19:01 which states that the Commissioners have a statutory duty to make a “full, faithful and impartial enquiry”. She also alleged that the procedure adopted by the Commission was flawed and had unfairly condemned Gopee “in the public eye and through the media without affording him a timely and fair opportunity to rebutt allegations which have been made against him”.

Commission chairman, retired Chief Justice Clinton Bernard, said Gopee was summoned to appear before the Commission on February 28 to question persons who had made allegations against him and to give evidence on his own behalf. Bernard added that the records showed that Gopee ignored that summons. He said Gopee was again summoned to appear on March 17 and did so. On that occasion, Bernard continued, the former chairman was represented by Gobin who questioned matters that were outside the Commission’s terms of reference.  Bernard said Gopee was summoned to appear on April 16  and produce a firearms contract reportedly signed between the AA and the Firearms Training Institute which he was unable produce.  At a previous hearing, Deputy Security Manager Leo Reyes said he had no knowledge of that contract.

Asked by Bernard if she had received a transcript of evidence given by Secretary to Cabinet Andrea Woo-Gabriel in which Woo-Gabriel said Cabinet had no record of giving permission to the Customs Department to waive duties on specialty equipment from American company Calamaquip for use at Parco, Gobin said she had not. The attorney added that the transcript was irrelevant since Gopee was withdrawing from the Inquiry. Bernard said that if Gopee and his attorneys disagreed “with all that has gone on here, they have a right to go to the High Court and question it”.

WEDNESDAY
No evidence taken

NO evidence was taken on Wednesday when the Inquiry continued for the 126th day. When the sitting began attorney Keith Scotland, who represents the Ministry of Works and Transport client representative, Peter Cateau, announced that after a perusal of the notes of evidence of NIPDEC’s Project Manager, Kenneth Critchlow, he decided he had no questions for Critchlow. Cateau was absent from the sitting because he was ill.

Thursday
Cateau was watchdog of public purse

NIPDEC’S General Manager Margaret Thompson on Thursday agreed that a NIPDEC document which she described as containing “unapproved” payments in the sum of US$1.5 million made by the Ministry of Works and Transport client representative Peter Cateau, were really “unreconciled” payments based on NIPDEC’s records. She said it also could have been that NIPDEC was merely unaware the payments were approved. She also agreed that Cateau was more the “watchdog” of the public’s purse on the project. Thompson was being questioned by Cateau’s attorney Keith Scotland leading Dawn Mohan.

The NIPDEC document was prepared by Thompson and represented the “unapproved” payments she said Cateau made to Birk Hillman Consultants (BHC) during the duration of the project. Thompson explained that NIPDEC did not approve the payments which totalled US$1.5 million because there were no letters from the company authorising payment which could be found in its records. She agreed with Scotland that the sum may not necessarily have been unapproved but it could have been that NIPDEC was merely unaware of the approvals. She was later shown several letters by Scotland, some of which were signed by NIPDEC Director Trevor Romano and representatives of the Airports Authority (AA), which Thompson agreed were approvals for various payments. Such approval letters reduced the sum of “unapproved” payment in her statement by at least half a million dollars, bringing the total sum of  “unapproved” payments to US$1.064 million.

Friday
Towfeek Ali to be summoned to explain servicing of airport firearms

A SUMMONS is to be issued for Towfeek Ali, managing director of the Firearms Training Institute, by the Commissioners’ enquiring into the Piarco airport development project. The reason for the Commissioners’ action, as announced on Friday by Chairman Clinton Bernard, is for Ali to assist the Commission in understanding the circumstances involving the Airports Authority (AA) taking away the servicing of firearms contract from the Defence Force and giving it to Ali’s firm. The decision of the Commissioners arose following the questioning of former Inspector of Operations at the AA, Leo Reyes by attorney Sean Cazabon, who represents the AA’s former Security Manager, Dennis John.

Bernard said the Commission “had a duty to go further” into the awarding of the contract, since Reyes was of no help to the Commission. Bernard said it was especially important since they could not tell in whose hands the firearms could have gotten into or where it could have ended up. Lead attorney for the Commission Theodore Guerra, SC fully supported the Commissioners’ decision saying the matter was a serious one. Guerra said it he was very concerned that a State authority could not account for the servicing of its firearms not knowing where they could end up. Bernard also warned Reyes who was employed in the police service as a Corporal for 14 years that in its report they may have to say something about the matter, saying they were there to “seek the truth”.

He told Reyes “clearly you have not been of assistance to us and it’s disturbing that you were in charge and you seem to know nothing of the whereabouts of the firearms”. The whole issue of the firearms arose after Reyes’ evidence coming out of  the questioning by Cazabon,  contradicted that which he had given on April 10, 2003. Reyes also held the firearms users licence for the AA. Reyes said on that occasion John had told him the contract was in writing. But yesterday he told Cazabon that wasn’t so. He explained that he was of the opinion that a contract should have been in writing. He told Cazabon that he never saw a written contract and efforts to get a copy if it existed proved futile. He said he had enquired about the contract’s existence from John but was told that he (John) had also never seen the contract.