Mark, NLCB in Senate war

OPPOSITION Senator Wade Mark has sought leave to have what he described as “offending publications” by the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) be referred to the Committee of Privileges for investigation. Addressing the Senate yesterday, Mark referred to copies of full page advertisements published in daily newspapers on December 15 and 16, signed by NLCB chairman Louis Lee Sing and three other members. According to Mark, the advertisements quoted him (Mark) as saying that the NLCB had spent US$75 million on an investigation and that the accounts of the NLCB had not been audited and laid in Parliament since 1999. The Board, Mark continued, had also demanded that he cease and desist from misleading the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

Mark, who described the advertisements as “a false and perverted report of the proceedings of this honourable House,” and “no less than a molestation of a member of this Senate,” said it was “maliciously and surgically calculated” to bring him into “public ridicule and odium.” What was even more disrespectful, Mark continued, was that the statement came from a statutory body which was accountable to Parliament. He said the NLCB Board was attempting to intimidate him in the execution of his duties as a member of the Senate. Mark admitted that in his contribution during the debate on the Bill entitled “An Act to amend the National Lotteries Act Chapter 21:04” at the last sitting of the Senate, he had indeed stated to the Senate that the NLCB had spent some US$75 million on an investigation involving former members of the NLCB. However, after consulting his notes, Mark said he had corrected that mistake during the contribution of Senator Rennie Dumas at 3.30 pm on that same day. He had then indicated that the figure he should have quoted was US$270,000. Senate President Dr Linda Baboolal assured Mark that she would consult the Hansard and rule at the next sitting of the Senate.