ONE day before the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport development project is due to hand over its report to President George Maxwell Richards, reliable sources suggest that a rift has developed among the four Commissioners, who are unable to agree on certain matters.

Sources said a report will be handed to President Richards tomorrow as scheduled, but it was more than likely there will also be a minority report. The four Commissioners are Chairman, retired Chief Justice Clinton Bernard, Victor Hart, retired Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Projects Manager; Marie Ange Knights, Chartered Accountant and former Assistant Auditor General and Keith Sirju, Chartered Engineer and Lecturer in the Structural Analysis and Design, UWI. The fifth Commissioner appointed by President Arthur NR Robinson was Peter Bynoe, a former Chief Architect, who withdrew from the Inquiry on May 21, 2003 after he fell ill. Bynoe died on Monday from cancer. Efforts to contact Chairman Bernard yesterday were unsuccessful. However earlier in the week he told Newsday that the report would be presented on time. He said they were working day and night to have it completed. He also said the Commission had not asked for a further extension from the President, and gave no indication of any disagreement among the members of the Commission.

Lead attorney for the Commission, Theodore Guerra, also confirmed yesterday that the report would be ready in time for tomorrow’s deadline. It was unclear as to what issues the four Commissioners were divided on and no one would confirm or deny that the Commissioners were having difficulty in agreeing unanimously on the findings. However Newsday was told that last minute discussions were held on several days this week in an attempt to gain unanimity. The source suggested that some of the findings would be signed by all four Commissioners, indicating that there was agreement on most of the issues. But on other matters, “there might be minority report.” The inquiry which began on August 23, 2002 ended on July 4, 2003 after 170 days of sitting. Sixty-six persons gave evidence. It was one of the longest and most controversial of inquiries held in Trinidad and Tobago.

On several occasions the Law Association wrote to Chairman Bernard claiming he was biased and unfair based on his comments at the sittings. Those letters were copied to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Geoffrey Henderson, who himself wrote the Commission advising it to be careful. The key people involved in the airport project, former Minister of Works and Transport, Sadiq Baksh, former Finance Minister, Brian Kuei Tung, contractor Northern Construction Limited (NCL), which got most of the contracts on the project and NCL’s Managing Director Ish Galbaransingh, together with former Airports Authority Chairman, Tyrone Gopee, all refused to participate in the proceedings, claiming it was biased. Up to the end of April the Inquiry had cost taxpayers over $5 million.

JUDY Rosales, mother of three daughters, remained mystified as to why anyone would want to strangle her 23-year-old daughter to death.

“Why? Why? Why?” Rosales queried yesterday from the Forensic Science Centre while awaiting the post mortem report on the actual cause of death of Roxanne Superville, her second daughter. The autopsy performed by forensic pathologist Dr Eastlyn Burris revealed she died from strangulation.  The police are also looking at the possibility that Roxanne was raped but tests are not conclusive. Senior officers said they are working along “systematic lines” and it is believed that Roxanne knew the person who ended her life. Roxanne, who worked as a floor manager at Casino Royale Limited, Queen’s Park West, was found dead around 5.45am yesterday by Gerard Henry, an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to the police, Henry was walking along La Grine Road, Maracas, St Joseph, when he stumbled upon Roxanne’s body. There was a shoe lace tied around her neck. Her body, clad in an olive green skirt outfit was found at the side of a dirt road, a good distance from where she lived at Balata Trace, in the same district. The young woman had left her place of employment around 4 am yesterday in company with co-workers, with whom she travelled from Port-of-Spain in a maxi taxi.  She had picked up duties at the casino from 4 pm Wednesday. Roxanne is reported to have dropped off in Curepe, from where she took a Maracas/St Joseph taxi by the Priority Mall. The vehicle was supposed to take her to her home, but she never reached her destination.

Judy Rosales said nothing of importance was taken from her daughter, but that a pair of shoes was missing.  She said Roxanne normally carries two pairs of shoes, but that one pair could not be located. “I know if she was attacked, she would have fought for her life,” Judy said, trying her best to prevent the tears from falling.  She said she was at work when she received the terrible news yesterday. Judy is employed as an office attendant at the University of the West Indies (UWI).  She said when she got the news she immediately left for the scene where she was met by other family members. “I just started to bawl and cry.  I will miss her so much,” Judy said, describing her daughter as a kind and loving person who interfered with no one.

Judy further said that her daughter never told her if she had ever received threats to her life.  Roxanne’s aunt, Patricia Rosales, described her niece as an independent person, who was willing to help everyone. Rosales was the first of the family members to have seen the body.  She was plying her car for hire when she heard the news.  The description of the deceased is what made her rush to the scene. After the discovery, Henry, of Green Hill, Maracas/St Joseph,  contacted the police and a party of officers headed by ASP Fitzroy Frederick and including Insps Lester Hutchings Michael Modeste, Sgt Johnnie Abraham and others visited the scene. The District Medical Officer (DMO) pronounced her dead and ordered the body removed to the Forensic Science Centre.  No arrests had been made up to late evening and Insp Modeste of the St Joseph Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is continuing investigations.

IN WHAT is the second suicide in South Trinidad this week, a Gasparillo man, who separated from his wife four months ago after they were having domestic problems, committed suicide in front his 5-year-old daughter on Wednesday night by drinking a toxic substance.

According to police reports, around 9 pm, Basdeo Bal, 43, went to the Samlalsingh Trace, Gasparillo home that he once shared with his wife Parbattie. A party was in progress and when he met his estranged wife, they quarelled over the status of their daughter. It is reported that in a fit of rage, Bal took up a bottle of weedicide and drank from it, collapsing and dying a short while later while his wife and daughter looked on. A report was made to the San Fernando police and a team of officers arrived on the scene accompanied by District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Silochan, who viewed the body and ordered it removed to the San Fernando mortuary. Up to late yesterday, efforts were being made for an autopsy to be carried out. PC Mohammed is continuing investigations. On Monday, a 21-year-old female receptionist, who took an overdose of tablets following an altercation with a male companion, died while awaiting medical attention at the Accident and Emer-gency Department of the San Fernando General Hospital.

GOVERNMENT will ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the San Fernando-based National Centre for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD). This assurance was given yesterday by Prime Minister Patrick Manning following yesterday’s Cabinet meeting at Whitehall.

The Prime Minister announced that Cabinet agreed to a “one-off grant” of $376,607.81 to help the NCPD meet its projected expenditure for the period July to September 2003. “In addition, Cabinet approved a short, medium and long-term plan to guide the Centre towards financial sustainability,” he stated. Including in this plan are the presentation of a business plan to the Prime Minister’s Office by October, special reporting on the NCPD’s finances to Cabinet, reviews by the Ministries of Public Administration and Social Services Delivery on the Centre’s organisational needs and allocation of an appropriate number of government contracts to the NCPD in the areas of printing, woodworking, garment construction, marketing and sale of the Centre’s products.

Manning added that Cabinet has instructed him to submit a detailed funding programme for the NCPD for 2004. He said Government’s annual subvention is $520,000 and the NCPD is requesting it be increased to $1.4 million. Manning was uncertain whether this would end the 100 day-long protest by disabled persons outside the NFM compound on Wrightson Road, but said he will be meeting with a delegation of persons from Disabled Persons International today at Whitehall at 9.30 am.

TAXI driver Sieudath Maharaj is believed to have been murdered because he owed someone money, his brother, Gavindra Maharaj suspects.

Maharaj’s bullet-ridden body was found in his silver blue B14 Nissan Sentra vehicle around 9.30pm Wednesday at Peters Lane, Demerara Road, Wallerfield. The 38-year-old father of three children, ages 6, 8 and 11, who last lived in Sangre Grande had been shot five times, three in the head and twice in the shoulder. Maharaj, who once worked at Charles Candy, was found by a passerby. He died on the spot after the shooting incident, which police have described as an execution. A report was made and a party of officers headed by Sr Supt Farouk Ghany and including ASPs Fitzroy Fredericks, Wesley Moore and Leon Anthony, Insp Bullen, Cpl Smith and others visited the scene.

Police sources said the officers recovered several spent shells inside and outside the vehicle.  However, his car and wallet was intact, ruling out the possibility of a robbery. But at his former address at Swami Avenue, in El Socorro, Gavindra Maharaj said his brother owed a man money. He could not, however, say who the man was, how much money was owed, and why his brother borrowed the cash. Gavindra said he last saw his brother on Monday when he (Sieudath) passed to eat.  He said his brother had been living with his father in Sangre Grande for the past month. He also said his brother plied his vehicle for hire and had been divorced from his wife, Savi.  He said the divorce took place earlier this year without their knowledge. No arrests had been made up to late evening and WP Sgt Cox-Modeste of the Arima Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is  investigating.