In the Open tournament, 12 players shall be vying for the prestigious title of National Chess Champion. Eight-time and current national champion, FM Ryan Harper, will have to pull out all the stops to retain his title against a very competitive field comprising FM Adrian WinterAtwell, FM Kevin Cupid, FM Frank Yee, FM Isaiah Mc Intosh, FM Mario Merritt, Alan-Safar Ramoutar, FM Joshua Johnson, CM Dev Soondarsingh, CM Ravishen Singh, CM Esan Witlshire and David Jones.

On the female side, defending Women’s Chess Champion, 16 year old WIM Gabriella Johnson will face WCM Aditi Soondarsingh, CM/WFM Shannon Yearwood, WCM Shemilah James, WFM Sadiqah Razark, Amy Ali, Anusha Saha, Athena Martin and Zara La Fleur. The Trinidad and Tobago Chess Association is encouraging the public to come out and support the players for the most important event on the local chess calendar.

But the company’s management, in denying collusion with Petrotrin employees to overstate oil production from its Catshill, Barrackpore field told reporters yesterday during a tour of its facilities, that it has documentation to prove its oil claims to Petrotrin are real and to show how its oil production spiked in recent times.

The company has been named in a Petrotrin audit report which alleged close to $100 million in payments between January to July for oil that allegedly was never received by Petrotrin. A&V flew oil drilling consultant Jim Krissa from Canada, two days ago, to participate in the tour yesterday. Petroleum engineer Nazir Ali was also at the tour.

“The report questioned our production levels, but we can prove from our records that we have 38 wells and invested $1 million every five days in workover operations in which we built cluster wells. We had 560 barrels per day, so, multiply that by 38 wells. Just because our wells increased in production does not mean that an audit report is true. We have moved to 1,600 barrels in our fields and the records are there to show,” Ali said.

A&V managing director Nazim Baksh, a good friend of Prime Minister Keith Rowley, did not participate in the tour but his attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, was present.

Maharaj said that tomorrow, A&V representatives will hold a press conference where it will explain details of its oil production and present evidence to counter inferences by Petrotrin audit report.

A&V is claiming $45 million from Petrotrin for crude supplied to the refinery for the months of June and July, but the audit committee has recommended Petrotrin withhold that payment. Krissa said it would not be feasible to install an automated system to check oil production from lease operators’ fields because wells are ‘small production’ and can become dormant.

“It will be a waste of money. I do not want to get into the aspect of the report, but what I can say here, is that wells here are drilled to about 3,500 feet or 6,500 feet to the limit. It flows high volume in short periods.

It’s a great cost to the contractor to generate more wells, but what we see is that A&V has is cluster drilling and that is cause for the high volume oil production,” Krissa said.

Following reports of violence and threats meted out to several journalists by A&V associates several days ago, the company publicly apologised to the media and invited it to yesterday’s tour and tomorrow’s press conference. Journalists who attended the tour yesterday later reported they were unharmed and were not molested.

The Mouttet report must be followed up by the Fraud Squad because we need justice. Those who are responsible for setting up the “go-between” company to charge taxpayers an additional US$6,000 day for the Cabo Star must face the courts.

Every manager, every employee involved must not be allowed to roam freely. There has to be serious consequences for those withholding information from the Board of the Port Authority.

There are surely criminal elements currently operating on the port if this report is proven true but there is also the possibility of political elements as well. The report shows that they were intentionally undermining the board and consequently the line minister by withholding documents and correspondence so as to advance their hidden agenda.

Then we hear of the attempt to bully the Government into a five-year contract for the Super- Fast Galicia, and the same people may have had an interest here also. The corruption at the port stinks and must not be allowed to continue.

All this trickery and mismanagement taking place and the people of Tobago are left suffering in the process.

I say fire them and bring them before the courts because we must never allow a few selfish and corrupt people to cause a whole country to be in disarray.

SAMANTHA MAHARAJ Chase Village

Young made the disclosure at the post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.

Later in the briefing, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said Bridgemans Services Group (BSG) was free to tender the controversial Ocean Flower II ferry again.

However, Rowley said the vessel’s presence in TT did not mean it would be selected for use on the seabridge.

Young told reporters that when certain people were suspended at the port, the ministry began to investigate a series of emails and other documents pertaining to the procurement of vessels for the seabridge.

He said the ministry has seized, “telephones, computer equipment and the server associated with the port” as part of the forensic investigation which was still in progress.

“Letters of credit (LOC) are not revocable,” she said, citing Lord Diplock in a 1958 case.

“The bank cannot withdraw from its liability to pay, even if instructed by the buyer to cancel the credit.” Persad-Bissessar challenged Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to state what legal notice had been issued to FCB to revoke the letters of credit for Ocean Flower II and for Cabo Star.

“So our country now has to pay for this boat over $20 million, all without doing sea-trials,” she said. “If you were buying an old car, you would test run the vehicle,” she added, scoffing that the Lloyd’s inspection had been limited to superficialities such as the boat’s signage.

Persad-Bissessar said the LOC payments kicked-in in two parts: when the charter-party was signed and when the vessel reached TT Wednesday, an arrival she dubbed, “very suspicious.” She then asked if someone was getting a secret payment in the ferries deal.

She said charter-parties contracts for both the Cabo Star and Ocean Flower II contain a section 34 that suggested that Bridgeman’s must pay someone a commission, even amid aspersions being cast on the Port Authority of TT.

Samlal’s white Nissan panel van was missing from his premises.

On Wednesday, acting on the advice of the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions George Busby, WPC Janelle Ransome of the Homicide Investigations Bureau (Region III), laid the charge of murder against Ranoo, also known as Ronnie Ranoo. He was expected to appear before a magistrate in the San Fernando Court yesterday.

It was that move, relatives believe, that led him to stabbing the two and later ingesting a poisonous substance. The man, 37, who is suspected of molesting the girl, remains warded in a serious condition at hospital under police guard. Mother and child are warded at different sections of the hospital and both are kept under armed police guard. The child was stabbed in the chest while the mother in her chest and hands. Both remain warded in serious but stable condition.

“On Tuesday, she dropped the summons at the Barrackpore Police Station for them to give him to appear in court next week Friday.

They (suspect and close relatives) knew about it and one even threatened her to drop it or else.

It seems like the one who threatened her is in hiding too,” said a close friend of the woman.

At 12.30 am on Wednesday, neighbours were awakened by screams and they later saw the woman and her daughter bleeding at the side of the road. Neighbours also found two frightened children, one a five-year-old boy and the other a ten-year-old girl inside a house unharmed. Hours later, residents found the suspect hiding in some bushes.

Sources said residents beat the suspect before dragging him out and leaving him at the side of the road for the police to pick up. When police arrived, he was frothing at the mouth. The Children’s Authority yesterday condemned the brutal attack adding that on Wednesday night, a team of investigators visited the child and mother.

Children’s Authority communications manager Cheryl Moses- Williams noted that given the traumatic experience, counselling and interventions will be provided to the family. “They are currently in a critical but stable condition at hospital. The Authority has also ensured the safety of the other children in the family. The Authority is also in high praise of the child’s mother, who immediately took action and reported the (sexual) abuse (on the child) once it was brought to her attention.”

A release from the Defence Force yesterday, in which it officially announced that at 7.45 am on Wednesday, the Coast Guard vessel TTS Moruga CG 27, departed Staubles Bay, Chaguaramas, bound for Dominica with relief supplies and personnel.

The vessel was expected to arrive around 7.45 am yesterday because, depending on sea conditions, it would have taken 20 to 24 hours for the vessel to reach Dominica.

The TTS Moruga transported “food, water, generators and many more items that were donated and collected from various stakeholders at various locations throughout TT.

The 21-member crew and a 21-member disaster relief team onboard the TTCG vessel will assist in securing and managing the distribution of relief items,” the TTDF stated.

Newsday understands that the TTS Moruga will likely remain there for a week before returning to Trinidad while another TTCG vessel may very well be used to transport donated items to Dominica.

A departure date for that other vessel has not yet been determined.

The TTDF has arranged seven drop off locations in Trinidad and two in Tobago (see list below).

For further information, the public is advised to contact the TTDF’s Disaster Relief Hotlines for general enquiries at 271-3372, 271-3377 or 271-3378.

The appearance of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley before the Joint Select Committee on Land and Physical Infrastructure on Monday was a significant milestone, demonstrating faith in Parliament’s processes and adding renewed vigour to the bipartisan committee system.

While Rowley yesterday expressed strong misgivings over what he described as “nasty” tactics used by an Opposition member of the committee, even he will be hard-pressed to deny that the committee proceedings have, overall, shone a light on the operations of the Port Authority and the Trinidad and Tobago Inter-Island Transport Company.

The JSC was made privy to a wide scope of material in relation to the operations of the ferry service.

There were disclosures of high-level wrangling at the level of the authority, serious questions about procurement practices in relation to vessels, and even issues relating to catering and cleaning — including allegations of sexual harassment.

In other words, bacchanal and bobol emerged.

Overall, there were some complaints about the committee process, such as the non-appearance of Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly Kelvin Charles, allegations of unfair proceedings by one witness, and the aforementioned complaint by Rowley of misleading conduct.

Yet, it is for the committee, when preparing its final report, to come to its own conclusions in relation to these issues.

We certainly hope the JSC will treat with all that has been disclosed with urgency and that whatever recommendations are made are actionable. At the very least, the report into this matter — which should be made public — will have persuasive authority when it comes to the setting of Government policy moving forward.

It is also within the power of the JSC to refer matters to the relevant law enforcement authorities should it have grounds to do so. But while hearings concluded this week, it is clear that the work of the committee will continue.

Members of the public and stakeholders have been invited to make submissions.

People who are in a position to make a contribution should take advantage of this invitation, which ends next Monday.

We look forward to the findings of the JSC but note we have seen enough to appreciate the significant challenges in relation to the inter-island ferry service.

The evidence reveals a breakdown of processes and a need for a review of the structures of the port. Yet again in our country’s history, a special purpose company has been unable to manage public procurement without commess. This underlines the need for the State to enforce the new laws designed to eliminate sleaze in the award of contracts.

In this stead, we are heartened by Rowley’s assurance on Monday that the State is ready to proclaim the new public procurement law upon the appointment of a regulator by President Anthony Carmona. Carmona must make that appointment with dispatch.

Whatever the JSC concludes, this issue is far from over. Questions remain over the validity of the contract — even as a vessel has now re-emerged in our waters — as well as a line of credit.

Though a new tendering process has begun, the same company that has raised suspicion has retendered. Hopefully, the JSC will offer solutions. It has already done well by shining a light on these turbulent matters.

In its continuing efforts to assist TT ’s cultural pioneers, FYOTT will host The Man, The Message, The Mood, The Music, recognition concerts for the former National Calypso Monarch, Soca Monarch, and Road March champion .

The first concert is at the Shaw Park Complex in Tobago tonight and the other takes place at the CLR James Auditorium, Cipriani Labour College, Valsayn, tomorrow .

FYOTT will present Shadow with a cheque for $75,000 for his cultural contribution to the nation .

Last year, FYOTT embarked on “Remembering the Legends/ Tribute to the Icons” and similarly honoured Black Stalin .

The group was driven to start this project to celebrate and honour the artistes .

It noted that despite the calypsonians’ contributions to culture, “it is only when these artistes become ill or pass on that their worth is remembered with glowing tributes by radio stations that find every song from their repertoires to play.” Chairman of FYOTT Hugh Grant said: “Last year it was decided by this group to begin honouring our icons in an attempt to preserve their music, lives, and legacies….With most of our veteran entertainers advancing in age, it is imperative that we celebrate and honour them while they are still alive and among us.” Many of the nation’s top artistes across musical genres would perform Shadow’s numerous classics, with a performance by the “Bassman” himself .

Some of the artistes appearing at the event include, from Tobago, Shurwayne Winchester, Oscar B, Johnny King, Ainsley King, Leslie-Ann Ellis, Tobago Chalkie, Prince Unique, Dillon Thomas, Axe Back, and others .

Artistes from Trinidad include Ajala, Gypsy, Chucky, Kurt Allen, Rikki Jai, Mistah Shak, Brian London, Singing Sonia, Count Robin, Mr Famous, and more .

For tickets and more info: Hugh Grant at 764-2611, Lennox London at 683-2792 or Lance Duntin at 706-7570 .