UNC: Morean ‘biggest fraud’

THE OPPOSITION United National Congress (UNC) yesterday described Attorney-General Glenda Morean as “the biggest fraud” in Trinidad and Tobago for saying that the Integrity Commission will be “restructured”, “re-engineered” or even replaced by an Anti-Corruption Commission. According to party chairman Wade Mark, the AG’s statement reeks of hypocrisy because it is, “going on six weeks” and Canadian forensic investigator Bob Lindquist’s report on alleged WASA corruption has yet to see the light of day.

The UNC chairman shared former AG Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj’s view that Morean’s proposal was a ruse to prevent the Commission from investigating the affairs of  People’s National Movement (PNM) Government Ministers. Mark said the Public Integrity Act of 2000 is already on the statute books and the former government was going to bring the Prevention of Corruption Act 2001 to Parliament to strengthen existing anti-corruption legislation, but the process was aborted after Maharaj, Trevor Sudama and Ralph Maraj broke ranks with the UNC over its handling of corruption allegations against frontline UNC ministers. The December 2001 elections followed shortly thereafter, removing the party from office.

Mark said while Morean boasts of  PNM commitment to rooting out corruption, Government tries to find “every excuse to delay implementing” anti-corruption measures. He wondered whether the move to “re-engineer” the Commission was actually an attempt by Morean to prevent the Commission from investigating PNM Ministers’ finances. “This AG is a hoax and a fraud. She is an AG who is polluting the entire integrity process in TT,” the UNC chairman declared.