Maha Sabha charges PNM bias

THE Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), the organisation which represents the majority of members of the Hindu community, has filed a motion in the San Fernando High Court alleging that the PNM Government acted with bias and favouritism in granting a radio licence to Citadel Ltd, parent company of I95.5 FM, while refusing them (SDMS) a similar licence.

Louis Lee Sing applied for a radio licence on March 13, 2001, on behalf of Citadel Ltd, a company of which he is chairman and which manages I95.5 FM. But the application was made to the Director of Telecommunications five months before Citadel was formed as a company. The licence was granted in June 2002, by the Telecommunications Division under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education in which current Deputy Speaker of the House of Represen-tatives and La Brea MP — Hedwidge Bereaux — was the then Minister. Yesterday, Queen’s Counsel Dr Fenton Ramsahoye submitted to Justice Carlton Best in the San Fernando High Court that granting Citadel a radio licence under the circumstances which he (Ramsahoye) outlined before the court, was motivated by political considerations and tainted with corruption.

Justice Best yesterday began hearing a constitutional motion filed by the SDMS alleging that Cabinet under the People’s National Movement administration, acted with bias and favoured Citadel. The Maha Sabha had applied for its licence on December 1, 1999, but the Hindu organisation’s licence was not approved. Ramsahoye told Justice Best a licence was applied for in the name of Citadel, with Lee Sing signing as its executive chairman on March 13, 2001. But even then, he said, Citadel had not come into existence legally by virtue of being registered under the Company’s Act. Citadel got approval of its licence in June 2002. But the company, Ramsa-hoye told Justice Best, was only incorporated in August 2001, six months after the licence was granted. The attorney tendered documents in court to prove this.

“How could the director (telecommunications) grant a licence to a company yet to be formed,” Ramsahoye questioned. Ramsahoye tendered a letter signed by Lee Sing to the then Minister Bereaux, in which Lee Sing requested that he wished to bring to the attention of the minister, his attached application. The letter was dated January 16, 2002. Just how Citadel’s licence was granted over and above the Maha Sabha, who applied 17 months before Lee Sing’s company, Ramsahoye asked the judge.  He added that the Maha Sabha was not a political organisation, but a social body involved in the promotion of the Hindu religion and culture. Ramsahoye told the judge that the SDMS was in the race long before Citadel Ltd. “Citadel came in as a late runner and took the trophy,” Ramsahoye told the judge. Earlier in the proceedings, attorney Russell Martineau SC who appeared on behalf of the State, made an application to put in two affidavits — one by Bereaux who is now the deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Gillian McIntyre, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration. This was refused by Justice Best. Hearing continues today.