Defence: Missing — one female foreign expert

THE DEFENCE wants to know where the female foreign expert who assisted the police has gone. Frank Solomon SC, one of the defence attorneys said yesterday he had received a list from the prosecution of the names of four male foreign experts who assisted the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB) in the Piarco Airport Terminal Development Project. Solomon reminded Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls that prosecution witness Corporal Joanne Archie had stated in her evidence that there was a female foreign expert assisting the Bureau in the investigations. “Where is she, where has she gone?” Solomon asked. Solomon said he had received the names of the foreign experts and as far as he was concerned, they were all male names. The names given were listed as Bob Lindquist, Hans Marshdorf, Rodney Stamler and Raimondo Lopez-Pino Levi.

Solomon wanted to know if the four persons were the only ones who assisted the Bureau. “I hope the four names constitute the full list of foreign experts in the inquiry.” He said Cpl Archie had stated in her evidence that there were five to six experts in Trinidad, apart from Lindquist and Marshdorf. One of them, Archie had added, was a female. “We find there is an issue to be resolved here.” Solomon said Asst Supt Wayne Boyd, in his evidence, said there were five to six experts, that he went to the airport and collected them, he supervised them, and handed over documents to them. “We would expect to receive the opinions of these experts. We are entitled to ask for them.”

Gilbert Peterson SC, the lead prosecutor, said he was advised that the names given to the defence were the foreign experts who assisted in the investigations. “There are other investigations going on. There must be a distinction drawn between the experts who dealt with the documents and the experts who assisted in the investigations.Vernon De Lima, another defence attorney, went further when he asked the prosecution to supply a list of the foreign companies involved in the Piarco probe. Peterson jumped up and said he was doing everything possible to assist the defence on this issue. Hearing resumes on Monday.