Nothing ‘unprecedented’ with Robbie

FORMER Attorney-General Kamla Persad-Bissessar confirmed that the former UNC government gave former President Noor Hassanali a tax break to purchase a motor vehicle after he demitted office, contradicting reports that reported tax breaks given to Hassanali’s successor, Arthur NR Robinson, were either “unprecedented” or some form of political payback for putting the PNM in government in 2001. In an interview with Newsday yesterday, Persad Bissessar confirmed the existence of Cabinet note 558 of March 6, 1997 in which Hassanali was granted approval by the Basdeo Panday Cabinet to purchase a motor vehicle “exempt from customs duty, motor vehicle tax and value added tax.” According to a newspaper report, Government granted tax waivers to Robinson regarding the purchase of two vehicles and “other matters” which referred to medical treatment for both the former President and his wife Patricia who suffers from Alzheimer’s.

Persad-Bissessar said the exemptions given to Robinson and Hassanali “seem to be the same thing” with the only difference being that the former requested waivers on two vehicles while the latter asked for a waiver on one. Persad-Bissessar then stated that former Heads of State “should be given some benefits”. “You can’t be a Head of State and then have nothing tomorrow,” she said. A recent Newsday story also revealed that the former UNC government had approved lifetime medical treatment for all former Presidents, Prime Ministers and spouses. Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh could not recall the exact circumstances surrounding the March 6,1997 exemption to Hassanali. On the issue of health care for the Robinsons, former Health Minister Dr Hamza Rafeeq said there was nothing strange about this since the UNC approved legislation in 1997 for the State to pay the bills of former Prime Ministers should they require medical treatment overseas. Rafeeq recalled that the State paid for Manning to undergo heart surgery in Cuba on April 21, 1997 and then PM Basdeo Panday was another beneficiary of the legislation when he underwent a cardiac bypass in England. 

Dr Rafeeq however said the legislation did not cater for former Presidents and their spouses, or the wives of former Prime Ministers. Robinson was also Prime Minister of TT from 1986 to 1991. Rafeeq said while the State would still cover Panday’s medical expenses now if necessary, his wife Oma could not be afforded similar treatment now, and the State never covered her medical bills when Panday was PM. He said all the terms and conditions for Ministers, Prime Ministers and Presidents were defined by the Salaries Review Commission (SRC) and should any of these individuals have special requests, they either went back to the SRC or approached Cabinet for “special dispensation”. Prime Minister Patrick Manning is expected to make a statement on the issue this week.