SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS

Allegations of bribe taking against two Cabinet Ministers contained in a letter read out in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by Opposition Member of Parliament for Siparia, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, are the most serious against any members of the current Administration and must be investigated urgently. The Minister of Energy, Eric Williams, and Minister of Works, Franklin Khan, have denied the allegations made in the letter which was written by a PNM Councillor in the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation, Dansam Dansook. Only recently, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, advised that he had forwarded allegations of corruption made against two Government Ministers to the Integrity Commission. Was this in relation to Dansook’s allegations?

Persad-Bissessar noted that in a copy of the letter which had been placed in her mail box, a reported copy of the one sent by Dansook to the Prime Minister, Dansook claimed he had paid the Energy Minister a bribe of $75,000. Dansook also charged that Williams had made an apparent threat to him, declaring that the Intelligence Services were on to him (Dansook). In response, Dansook threatened to “expose” Williams. In Parliament on Wednesday, Williams, replying to the charges of corruption, declared categorically that he had never received any funds as reported by Dansook.

Instead, he said, he had received complaints from a seismic company operating here that their seismic survey was being sabotaged and had warned Dansook that serious action would have to be taken against him should the allegations by the seismic firm prove correct. Williams claimed as well that expatriates had fled after receiving death threats. All of Minister Williams’ counter charges can be investigated readily by the police, and the question arises, as it must, did the Minister of Energy or anyone acting on his behalf, or for that matter the seismic company, Terra Seis, or yet another similarly affected company, Talisman, or any of the persons who reportedly received death threats lodge any official complaint with the police?

In light of the seriousness of the charges made by Minister Williams, did he take any steps  to alert the police or his fellow Cabinet Minister, the Minister of National Security? Or had he taken the matter to the Prime Minister himself? The country is entitled to be told exactly the truth with regards to this matter. If Mr Dansook’s letter with its allegations has been sent to the Integrity Commission, we hope that the Commission will deal swiftly with its investigations into the claims by Dansook and the counter claims by Williams.