No need to probe Yetming allegations

PRIME Minister Patrick Manning said yesterday there was no need to investigate allegations that Jamaican business tycoon Michael Lee Chin allegedly paid a bribe to a Government minister to secure 20 percent of First Citizens Bank (FCB). “The wild irresponsibility of the Opposition in Parliament must not be condoned,” he told reporters during a walkabout at Laventille yesterday. The Prime Minister said he had noted that both Lee Chin and FCB chairman Ken Gordon had denied the allegations. He called on former UNC Finance Minister Gerald Yetming, who made the allegation to “bring the evidence.” The St Joseph MP told the House of Representatives on Friday he had heard that Lee Chin and  Gordon had allegedly discussed a plan to sell 20 percent of the bank to Lee Chin’s AIC Group.

In  an interview yesterday, Lee Chin denied the allegations and called on Yetming to produce evidence to support his claim, or apologise. Gordon has also denied the allegations. Commenting on the matter of Government seeking a waiver of the $1 million outstanding balance he owes the State arising out of his unsuccessful court challenge in 1997 to the crossing of the floor by former PNM MPs Vincent Lasse and Rupert Griffith, Manning said he was examining the contents of an editorial in one of the dailies yesterday to ascertain if any damage was done. He reiterated that out of some 200 persons in similar circumstances, he was the only one who had paid half a million dollars. He said he had applied for the waiver as Leader of the Opposition while the UNC was in office. Manning added that a draft policy on the matter had been formulated by the Chief State Solicitor and the matter was being looked at by the Attorney General.