Petrotrin yesterday confirmed that the minutes of a Board meeting were in the possession of the company’s corporate secretary and were not missing.

In a letter to the Editor, Petrotrin said it wished to confirm that the minutes referred to in yesterday’s Newsday article, “are in the possession of the Corporate Secretary” as is customary for all minutes of Petrotrin Board meetings. Minutes referred to in the Newsday report involved a meeting at which the unanimous decision by the Board was taken insisting  that Exxon/Mobil pay a (US)$45 million penalty for its failure to complete its contract drilling programme off Trinidad’s east coast.

Subsequently the State-owned oil company held another meeting and reportedly reversed its decision after it was reportedly told to do so by “higher” authority on the grounds that Exxon-Mobill was important to Trinidad and Tobago’s oil exploration programmes. Three members of Petrotrin’s Board, Emile Elias, Helena Inniss-King and Farad Khan are no longer on the Board. Elias resigned on April 18 and the other two were removed. Elias would only confirm that he had resigned. Khan said meetings of the Board were confidential.

A FORMER BWIA flight attendant who was arrested at a hotel in Miami on Feburary 14, has filed a motion in the United States District Court to suppress evidence relating to his charges including conspiracy to import five kilos of cocaine into the United States.

Trinidadian Michael Andre Le Blanc, who faces life imprisonment if convicted, has filed the motion in the US District Court — Southern District of Florida. He contends in his motion that the US federal agents never informed him of his rights when he was arrested at the hotel and any evidence collected should be considered the “fruit of a poisonous tree”. The motion to suppress came up for hearing in the US District Court last Friday before Judge Woolbrook. Hearing of the motion was put off to this Friday when Le Blanc will know if he will face a jury in Miami on Monday.

Le Blanc is charged jointly with BWIA flight attendant Frances Dow and Gregory Oral Lakhan on charges of conspiracy to import cocaine into the US during the period February 14 to 17, possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Le Blanc is being held at the federal prison facility in downtown Miami, while Dow was released on bail pending the hearing of the case. Le Blanc’s case will be argued by American attorney Dean Mosley. He is being assisted by former Trinidad Flying Squad officer Mervyn Cordner, now an attorney, Jamaican Wayne Golding, with assistance from Trinidad-based attorney Thomas Cunningham. The US Government is represented by John Delionado, Assistant US Attorney.

According to the information presented in the motion, Le Blanc travelled from Trinidad, arriving in Miami at 12.20 pm on February 14. After clearing Customs, Le Blanc drove to the Holiday Inn located at the corner of 36th Street and 205 Lejune Road to meet a female friend, named Frances Dow. Le Blanc arrived at the hotel about 2.30 pm. As he arrived at the hotel and spoke to Dow, and prior to gaining possession of any luggage or mentioning its contents, Le Blanc claimed he was thrown to the ground and held at gun point. He claimed that the law enforcement agents started to question him about the luggage and its contents. He said his arrest was audio-taped.

Le Blanc’s attorneys submit that their client was arrested without probable cause. “It appears from the statements given by Dow that probable cause to arrest Le Blanc never existed because at no time did Dow ever tell anyone that she knew that she was carrying cocaine. As far as Dow was concerned, she was just carrying an extra piece of luggage for a friend. “In addition, there is no evidence prior to the arrest and take down of Le Blanc, that Le Blanc knew what was in the luggage. “There was nothing criminal about Le Blanc meeting an old girlfriend in a hotel,” the motion stated.

The Trinidadian’s attorneys believe that the law enforcement agents moved too quickly because they had absolutely no probable cause to arrest and detain Le Blanc. The arrest and detention of Le Blanc, they submit, amount to an illegal seizure of his person and the seizure is in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States constitution. Dean Mosley, in his submission, points out that when Le Blanc arrived at the hotel, there was nothing to indicate that he knew what was in the luggage. Furthermore, he states that Le Blanc was never in possession of the luggage. “He was arrested within two minutes of arriving in the hotel where no one had a discussion about drugs or any contraband. “The first discussion about drugs came after Le Blanc was on the floor, face down with a gun pointed to his head by law enforcement.”

Mosley submits that Le Blanc travelled from Trinidad without drugs, arrived in Miami and went to a hotel room and spoke to a friend. Not once, he submits, did anyone discuss any drugs or evidence, reasonable suspicion that he knew drugs were in the luggage. Further, Mosley contends that law enforcement agents never told Le Blanc that he had a right to remain silent and that what he said could be used against him in a court of law. The US attorney said the arrestee should have been given the “miranda warning” so that his rights could have been put in the proper context. In conclusion, Mosley states that the law enforcement agents failed to honour Le Blanc’s fourth and fifth Amendment Rights and therefore all statements should be suppressed and any evidence collected in his case should be considered the “fruit of poisonous tree”.

A 54-year-old grandmother of 18, who had survived two heart attacks, successfully fought-off a bandit early Sunday morning, by jumping onto the intruder and fighting him to the ground. In the fracas, Juliana Sutton managed to grab a hammer and pounded the thief on his head, forcing him to scream out in pain and flee her home.

“I just start to fire lash,” she told Newsday adding that she is preparing for the intruder to “come back”, saying she will be even “more ready” this time. According to Sutton of Well Road, Siparia, about six months ago she purchased a stereo and left it on at nights. She said about 3.30 am Sunday she was awakened when the radio stopped playing. Sutton told Newsday she thought at first that it was her husband who had turned off the stereo. She said she keeps the bedroom door open and from her room she saw someone “pick up” the stereo. It was then she realised there was an intruder in the house. “I don’t know how I fly off my bed and start to struggle with him,” Sutton recalled, adding that it was an instinctive response of anger of being robbed.

Demonstrating with her arms, Sutton said she grabbed the masked man and he dropped the stereo. She said the two of them began to struggle and she was pushed to the ground but she held on to the man and he too fell. As they rolled around on the floor of the flat, two-bedroom house, Sutton explained, she managed to reach the doorway between the living room and her bedroom. The woman said she usually kept a hammer and a hand saw at the foot of her bed, for easy access. From the doorway she reached and grabbed the hammer and the intruder began to get up off the floor.

According to Sutton, she got off the floor and kept swinging the hammer at the bandit but he kept “ducking” causing her to “bang up the door and walls”. At that same time, one of Sutton’s grandchildren, 3-year-old Jameela Davis, came out of her bedroom and called out “Granny!” Sutton said she told the child to “go back inside,” and the child retreated to her room. The other grandchild, Nicholas Benjamin, 10, never came out of the room. “I just start to fire lash,” she told Newsday of her fight with the bandit. the bandit was hit on his head, causing him to grab his head and run through the front door and escaped through bushes at the back of the house.

Recalling the incident yesterday, Sutton said as she fought off the bandit for her prized stereo which she spent $3000 to purchase, she kept thinking: “He ent’ going with my stereo. It’s either he dead or I dead.” According to Sutton, she wasn’t frightened when she observed the bandit. She told Newsday she had twice suffered heart attacks, but couldn’t recall when exactly. She explained that she had two clogged arteries and following Sunday’s incident, she hadn’t been feeling well for the past two days.

The 54-year-old unemployed woman receives Government assistance. She said she had always taken the view that if ever an intruder came into her home, he would leave empty handed. “I always tell my husband they not leaving here with anything,” she stated. Following Sunday morning’s experience, Sutton was adamant that if such an incident should ever occur again she would again jump to defend her home. “If they come again, ah ready for them,” she exclaimed defiantly. Sutton told police she couldn’t identify the intruder because he wore a mask and gloves, but stated that he was slim built. Siparia police are continuing investigations.

THE SENATE will today debate a no confidence motion against Senate President Dr Linda Baboolal filed by an Opposition Senator.

Baboolal will not preside. She has opted to allow Deputy Vice President Rawle Titus to preside at the sitting. The motion states in part that Baboolal by her rulings, conduct and utterances both in and out of the Senate has demonstrated unequivocally her bias in favour of the PNM Government. It also contends that her lack of independence and/or understanding of the nature and role of her duties has stifled or stymied the freedom of debate in the Senate. However, before the motion is debated, when the sitting gets underway at 1.30 pm at the Red House, government ministers are expected to give answers to a barrage of questions orally and in writing.

Opposition Senator Wade Mark is asking the Minister of Energy Eric Williams to provide details on the salary and various allowances being received by Petrotrin’s Executive Chairman Malcolm Jones, as well as the terms and conditions Jones had in his previous post as President/Managing Director of Petrotrin. Mark is also seeking answers from Minister of Works and Transport Franklyn Khan on the number of new workers at the Airports Authority from January 2002 to date, their names, positions and qualifications. In addition, Mark wants to know the number of workers who were retrenched from the Authority since 2002, their names, positions, qualifications and their years of service before retrenchment.

Independent Senator Professor Kenneth Ramchand also has a question for the Minister of Trade. Ramchand wants to know the names and qualifications of the investigators used to gather information for relocating Parliament and the dates when the investigation began and ended. Among the questions for written answers are three from Opposition Senator Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan to the Attorney General. She wants to know whether a budget was prepared for the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport development project, its cost and the amount of monies paid to the Commissions and attorneys in the matter. Seepersad-Bachan also wants information on the Inquiries into the Elections and Boundaries Commission and the Biche High School.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced yesterday that there is to be an addition to his Cabinet — a woman.

The Prime Minister said no more, except to reveal that the appointment was imminent. But his announcement, which was made quite casually, left  his audience at the conference of the Trinidad and Tobago Federation of Women’s Institute’s and the national community in suspense. Sources said yesterday that the new appointment is likely to  be National Flour Mills Chairman, Christine Sahadeo. She is tipped to become Minister in the Ministry of Finance, with Cabinet status. It is understood that Ken Valley is to lose the portfolio of Finance and to serve solely as Minister of Trade. Valley is currently out of the country on government business. Sahadeo will be the first woman to hold a portfolio in Finance.

The Prime Minister’s announcement fuelled  speculation about a Cabinet and parliamentary reshuffle. If Sahadeo is to be added to the PNM’s team, she has to come via the Senate. And the question which was being asked yesterday was: who is going to be dropped from the Senate team. Pundit Manideo Persad is the only backbencher in the Senate. Everyone else is either a minister or a parliamentary secretary. Sahadeo is General Manager of Melville Shipping Limited, which is part of the Neal and Massy Group of Companies. An accountant in her early forties, she has worked in the shipping industry for much of her working life.  It is understood that Sahadeo recently travelled to London and Rotterdam where she introduced her successor to business associates overseas. With the appointment of  Angela Hamel-Smith to the Petrotrin Board, there are now two high ranking Neal and Massy executives in the hierarchy of the Government.

The Prime Minister has already faced criticisms about the size of his Cabinet, which opponents label as too large, consisting of 26 members. Sources also said that Imtiaz Hosein, who is chairman of the South West Regional Health Authority is to become Mayor of San Fernando. Current mayor Gerald Ferriera has already announced that he would not be returning. Manning, speaking at the opening of the 4th Area Conference which was being held by the Trinidad and Tobago Federation of Women’s Institutes at the Ambassador Hotel, boasted that the Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago had a large complement of women. “And another one is to be added to it not long from now,” he said.

Manning stated that these women (in the Cabinet) were “just as formidable and sometimes even more so than their male counterparts. And believe me, ladies and gentlemen, I know that of which I speak,” he said. He added, “To be sure there is some distance to go, but Trinidad and Tobago is well on the way,” he stated. Earlier, Chairman of the Network of Women, Hazel Browne, said that in the formulation of policy for Vision 20/20, which she labelled ‘Blindness 20/20’, the input of women had to be considered. “And, Mr Prime Minister we don’t want any gender sub-comittee. We are not a ‘sub’ of anything. Women are to be incorporated into all the 29 sub-committees,” she said. There are already six women ministers in Manning’s Cabinet: Education Minister, his wife, Hazel, the Attorney General, the Ministers of Legal Affairs, Social Development, Community Development and Gender Affairs and a Minister in the PM’s Office.

When a magistrate sits to conduct a preliminary inquiry he is not performing a judicial function but an administrative one,  submitted Frank Solomon SC, yesterday to the Court of Appeal.

He further argued that the inquiry is not a “court”, either of summary jurisdiction or at all and the magistrate does not “hear and determine anything.” What the magistrate does is to investigate and make a recommendation. Therefore it is questionable whether the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal under section 36 of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act can be invoked to review proceedings in a preliminary inquiry, Solomon said.

Solomon was at the time responding to an application by Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson, asking the Court of Appeal to review the decision of Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls for disclosure of a list of all relevant documents and statements the prosecution has in the fraud cases against former Minister of Finance Brian Kuei-Tung, former Minister of National Security Russell Huggins, Ishwar Galbaransingh, Amrith Maharaj, Steve Fergueson, John Smith, Renee Pierre and Barbara Gomes, who  are jointly charged with Maritime Fidelity Finance and Leasing Company and Northern Construction Limited (NCL), with conspiring to defraud the Airport Authority of over $19 million by false pretences between July 26 and December 21, 2002.

All accused were represented by a battery of lawyers which included Solomon, Alan Alexander SC, Russell Martineau SC, Desmond Allum SC, Vernon de Lima, Fayad Hosein, Reginald Armour, Devesh Maharaj, Gillan Lucky and Rajiv Persad. Gilbert Peterson represented the prosecution. Hearing the application were Justices of Appeal Margot Warner (President), Rolston Nelson and Stanley John. According to Solomon, the review of the functional evolution of the duties of an enquiring magistrate will show that section 36 does not encompass the review of proceedings before him since such proceedings do not emanate from a court, inferior or otherwise. He submitted that the term “judgement or order or proceedings” in section 36 refers only to a final order, and a preliminary inquiry does not finally determine the right of the parties. He said the court may only exercise its power under section 36 in cases of “material error” which arise only when there is a material procedural irregularity or lack of due process, as a result of which a person had suffered real prejudice or substantial adverse consequences. This was unlike the instant case where Mc Nicolls’ order for disclosure was simply for the better management of the case.

Peterson argued that the prosecution has disclosed documents to the defence but that they are not entitled to the statement of witnesses the prosecution intends to call or know their identity at this stage, and that the order of the Chief Magistrate if not set aside,  will have the opposite effect. He said there are occasions on which the prosecution in its discretion decides to disclose the identity of its witnesses, but that will be at the option of the prosecution and not under any duty. He affirmed that the rules of disclosure in the authority of Ferguson and McNicolls are clear and adequate to ensure fairness to the accused in the proceedings. “The requirements of fairness do not and cannot require advance notice to be given to the defence of the list of witnesses and the documents which are or have been in the possession of the prosecution. There is no justifiable ground in this case for extending the limits of disclosure laid down by this honourable court and the Privy Council.”

However, Solomon argued that the order of Mc Nicolls was not an order for disclosure of any statements or the contents of any documents including witnesses’ statements. The order does not in fact require the State to identify or indicate the names of persons whom it intends to call as witnesses, but only for a list of the documents. If on that list there are privilege documents, then the magistrate could adjudicate on it, he advised. According to Solomon, the order was made in the context of administrative chaos and massive confusion which was aimed at assisting Mc Nicolls in ultimately adjudicating on the several issues of disclosure which required to be solved. He told the court that Mc Nicolls made it clear that his ruling was not a disclosure order, and argued that the state would not suffer prejudice by the order. The order, he insisted, was made to assist the magistrate. The matter did not finish in a day’s sitting as anticipated and was therefore adjourned to May 13, when other counsel would make their submissions.

NATIONAL Union of Government and Federated Workers Trade Union (NUGFW) President Robert Giuseppi offered to help Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) CEO Errol Grimes recover any monies he may have lost when his salary was cut from $50,000 to $36,000.

The NUGFW leader also described WASA as “a bomb waiting to explode” and said his union was prepared to take industrial action to resolve outstanding labour issues there. Addressing a news conference at NUGFW headquarters yesterday, Giuseppi wondered whether recent reports over the exact compensation package for Grimes was one of the reasons why so many issues at WASA were being left on the back burner. “We can’t understand how you could pay a worker and then take back his pay,” he said. Commenting that Grimes was on some kind of  “stress leave”, Giuseppi advised Grimes to “come directly to the NUGFW and we will put a case for loss of earnings”. “No kind of employer could get away with such mad action,” he declared.

Public Utilities Minister Rennie Dumas indicated last week that Grimes’ monthly salary was $36,000 and not $50,000. The NUGFW president also claimed “the new Board is trying to pave the way for privatisation of WASA”. Giuseppi declared that several issues affecting daily rated workers at the company were being ignored while the matters of monthly-rated workers are being speedily addressed. He said the workers are calling on the union to “sound the war bells at WASA” and the NUGFW was prepared to resort to industrial action if necessary. “Some describe it as wildcat strikes but we do not describe it as such,” Giuseppi stated. The NUGFW leader added that WASA was in clear violation of the Industrial Relations Act by not meeting with the union on a regular basis.

Giuseppi said the health sector was a horse of a different colour because the NUGFW could not take strike action. However, he claimed a similar treatment of workers was taking place within the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs). “It is an orchestrated move by elements in the public sector to frustrate workers,” Giuseppi alleged. He reminded reporters that unlike the Medical Professionals Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT), NUGFW is a recognised bargaining unit for some 1,000 daily-rated workers within the RHAs.

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is currently investigating allegations that a female plumber was denied employment by a contractor in the island simply because he did not employ women.

This was revealed yesterday by THA Chief Secretary Orville London when he addressed the formal launch of the Non-Traditional Skills Training Programme for Women at the Roxborough Multi-Purpose Youth Facility in east Tobago. Some 50 women from that end of the island will be trained in masonry/brick-laying/tiling or electrical installation under the programme, which is being administered through the Community Development Fund of the Ministry of Community Development and Gender Affairs.

London made it clear that the THA “is going to be very, very vigilant in relationship to gender discrimination. The only benchmark for employment should be capacity, attitude, qualifications etc; not gender!” he declared. London described as “really disheartening” a complaint made to him personally by a young woman who had graduated in plumbing from a similar-type training programme. He reported: “She said she went to get a job and the contractor indicated to her that he is not employing women. We have that matter under investigation”, he told his audience. London said he did not believe that was “something that is common among most contractors. But I want to indicate to any one of the graduates who might be here, that any time that you have evidence of that kind of discrimination, to please come to my office and make the report and we would ensure that it is investigated because that is not something that we are prepared to condone under any circumstances” the THA Chief Secretary declared.

A BUSH fire set by hunters on Sunday is being blamed for  destroying a house  at Sewlal Trace, Fyzabad. According to reports, the blaze rapidly became unmanageable and spread to the home of a retired employee of TTPost, completely destroying the structure.

Neither the owner of the house, 61-year-old John Priam, nor his wife Iris Priam, 57, was home at the time. The fire was set around 3 pm and by 6 pm it had reached the two-storey house. When the house started burning, a call was made to the Siparia Fire Station and one of the nearer neighbours used water from the nearby dam, Naked Bay, to try to put out the blaze but there was little he could do. By the time fire officers arrived on the scene some 20 minutes later it was too late to save the house. The fire fighters were led by Fire Station Officer Collymore and Fire Sub Officer Asson.

A Ford Escort motor car parked downstairs the house was also destroyed along with furniture and appliances. Total damage has been estimated at $100,000. The Priams are now staying at another house in Ramatali Trace Fyzabad. T&TEC officials and police officers from the Fyzabad Police Station re-visited the scene yesterday. The hunting season has been closed for one month but investigators said hunters in the district often set fires to chase prey into the open. Often, the officers stated, hunters leave the fires unattended. PC Khan of the Siparia Police Station is continuing inquiries.

BWIA has not been adversely affected by the SARS threat in Toronto.

This assurance was given yesterday by Clint Williams, the airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, who said the impact of the World Health Organisa-tion’s travel advisory on ticket sales to the destination was not significant. “There has been no overall drastic effect on our sales to this point,” Williams said. When asked about possible fears among the crew members for their own health and safety, Williams said confidently: “They have been adequately trained and are aware of the risk but are ready to deal with the chance of exposure.They are trained professionals.”

Williams told Newsday the airline will “continue to fly the Toronto route as long as we see it as a viable destination, we are up to date on all WHO standards, our crew members have been briefed and are adequately prepared”. As recently as Saturday someone died of the disease in Toronto, taking the Canadian death toll to 20. Discoveries by researchers, indicating that the rate of fatality is approximately ten percent, have served to exacerbate the hysteria.