Ramnarnine noted there are attempts to spin this matter and to deflect and questioned why. “The facts remain that this was detected in January, 2017,” he wrote in a Facebook post in response to a controversy in which Petrotrin is now embroiled, as it relates to allegations of being billed for fake oil by A&V Drilling Workover Limited to the tune of almost $100 million..

In an earlier telephone interview, Ramnarine said he has been in the industry for a long time and has heard talk about over inflating oil, but nothing like this was brought to his attention as minister.

President General of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget said he did.

“With regards to this specific matter of pilferage of oil or over reporting of oil, during my tenure, I was not aware of any reports. I have been around the industry for a long time and you hear about such incidents, which speaks to how Petrotrin manages its custody transfer of oil.

“Seems to me that is the gap in which the abuse could take place.

Also, the allegations are not limited to this particular lease operator, but extend to employees of Petrotrin as well,” Ramnarine submitted.

Ramnarine said this is a very serious matter and one which the President Fitzroy Harewood must give priority.

At the same time he expressed disappointment on the silence of Petrotrin, while Energy Minister Franklyn Khan and his Permanent Secretary Selwyn Lashley take the lead.

“Petrotrin seems to be hiding behind press releases and the skirts at the Ministry of Energy.

They need to come out and tell the nation what is happening.” Ramnarine said what makes the matter worse is the delicate and fragile nature of the State company which has been asking its workers to make sacrifices and here it is millions are being lost through corruption.

“This is a very serious matter that has possible criminal implications.

The matter is very damaging to the reputation of Petrotrin and to the reputation of the country and warrants some investigation by the Integrity Commission and by the Fraud Squad.” Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has given the undertaking to have the matter investigated and take corrective actions.

However, another one of the UNC’s former Energy Ministers, Carolyn Seepersad- Bachan is on record as saying that the overstatement of fiscalized crude oil production by lease operators to Petrotrin is a recurring problem. She said various audit reports over the years have pointed to that fact and in 2010, her ministry engaged Petrotrin in discussions with a view to addressing this critical issue.

“And I can tell you they had quite a lot planned,” Roget said.

In response to a question about what would be the union’s response if Government broke the moratorium, he said it would be “most unfortunate.” “And there’s a phrase, ‘All hell will break loose!’” he added.

Speaking with journalists outside the Prime Minister’s office in St Clair following several hours of talks, Roget announced that the trade union movement had agreed to return to the tripartite consultative process in exchange for a promise from Rowley that there would be no more retrenchment of Government workers until the end of the year.

He said this included workers in all entities controlled by Government and any new plan to retrench workers after the moratorium expired would be brought to the National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC) for discussion, giving the trade unions an opportunity to put forward suggestions for avoiding the planned retrenchment.

Yesterday, the trade unions also complained to the Prime Minister about the refusal of ministers to meet with them.

“Their commitment just was not there,” Roget said. “And, therefore, we got a commitment from the Prime Minister and information that those ministers were communicated to and instructed that they should meet with the labour movement.. and have discussions aimed at treating with all of the issues within the respective line ministries.” On the issue of the alleged “fake oil” fraud at Petrotrin, Roget said the matter was not discussed at the meeting and declined to make a statement. He added, however, the union had their own views on the scandal.

“I can assure you that issue is far from over,” Roget said.

Asked if he was more satisfied Wednesday than their previous meeting with Rowley on August 23, Roget said, “We will hold our breath on that. Let us see how the thing will work going forward.”

This event, hosted by the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago, will host around 300 participants at this year’s event.

Aqua Warriors national swimmers Abrisse Trim, Jacob Cox and Rochelle Pierre alongside teammates Justin Thomas and Dante Williams will all brave the water conditions and 300 competitors at the Bay to compete at this year’s Open Water event.

Aqua Warriors assistant coach and swimmer, Rochelle Pierre, alongside, Dante Williams, are taking part in the highly competitive 5,000 metre open water event which is scheduled to commence at 8am. In the 1,000 metre open water category, Abrisse Trim, Jacob Cox and Justin Thomas will compete against the masses and this event commences at 10am.

The team of five, along with Head Coach Mosi Denoon, leave Tobago tomorrow for the Open Water Classic.

Abraham and her husband Andy were heading home when they saw a man walk out from some bushes and point a gun in their direction.

The 32-year-old officer was taken to the Chaguanas Health Centre and transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope where she was treated.

Sources said that investigators are working on information that the shooting may be linked to a land dispute.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Irwin Hackshaw said that investigators are in search of a suspect whose identity and home address is known to them.

Hutchinson made the remarks on Wednesday while responding to questions from audience members at the 7th annual mediation symposium at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain. Citing his experience as a lecturer at the UWI Faculty of Medical Sciences, Hutchinson said the composition of the student body at the faculty has undergone a dramatic shift since 2001, when he began his academic career.

“When I first began teaching at Mt Hope, the body was distributed roughly among 70 percent males and 30 percent females at the faculty. Today, it’s the other way around where there is roughly 80 percent females to 20 percent males.

“I think the distractions of the modern world seem to be affecting boys more, meaning their ability to focus is compromised.

The question is why are they compromised compared to girls and I think that has to do with a combination of the socialisation they receive as well as the education system itself,” Hutchinson said.

“The education system in general has not kept pace with the way children are developing, especially boys.

A sociologist has argued that when women went out to work, their movement out of the house was a contributing factor to men becoming more distracted and engaging in more self-destructive activities.” Hutchinson said the need to find a sense of identity also prompted many young men to fall in league with criminal gangs or violent extremists.

Piloting the bill, “An Act to abolish preliminary inquiries and to provide for the pre-trial procedure in respect of indictable offences and for ancillary matters” in the Senate yesterday, Al-Rawi said the new law will give the Director of Public Prosecutions the responsibility to consider whether a charge should be dealt with indictably and proceed to the High Court, or if summarily and it should to a magistrate’s court.

Making the case to abolish preliminary inquiries, he said at present, a number of people have been incarcerated and are awaiting trial for several offences ranging from murder to sexual offences for periods of three to 14 years and over. This includes the Piarco Airport Inquiry.

The law dealing with preliminary inquiries and which is found in the substantive law, The Indictable Offences Preliminary Act, Chapter 12:01, he said, is 100 years and has been amended several times, the most recent being in 2014.

Noting that the number one issue is crime and criminality, which the country has been grappling with, he said, a number of laws have been introduced prior to the parliamentary recess to reduce the number of cases before the High Court and the magistracy.

They included laws to deal with the backlog of 100,000 traffic offences, persons being remanded to custody, introduction of an improved system by plea bargaining and trial by judge only in certain circumstances.

The last report, 2014 to 2015, of people passing through the magistrate’s courts, he said, was a total of 527,043. That included, he said, a whole array of offences including traffic, indictable, and civil offences which have to be dealt with by preliminary inquiry.

Arima accounted for 75,796 cases; Chaguanas, 41,809; Couva, 19,729; Mayaro, 10,872; Point Fortin, 17,173; Princes Town, 33,291; Rio Claro, 8,277; San Fernando (Old Court), 24,180; San Fernando (Medina Building) 24,667; Sangre Grande, 30964: Siparia, 29,951; St George West, 151,812; Tobago, 23,227; and Tunapuna, 34,293.

At present, the Judiciary consists of one Chief Justice, ten justices of appeal, 31 puisne judges and three masters. There are 50 magistrates in 12 magisterial districts.

In terms of criminal matters pending at the High Court as at July 31, 2015, he said, there was a total of 29,090 cases.

With the opening of the law term next week, he said, new figures could be expected.

Matters pending at the time in the High Court, he said, included murder, 417 atempted murder, 300; kidnapping, 439; arms and ammunition, 5,788; sexual offences, 3,597; narcotics 5,758; and fraud, 5,407. When a crime is committed, he said, there is a judicial process, however, “You are taken into a process where the delay is so significant because of the design of the criminal justice system that justice will definitely be delayed. Therefore, he said, there is no consequence to crime and criminality.;

In July, the 11 received an emergency injunction against the TTPS to stop a promotion exercise and the acting CoP consented to provide the scores of all officers who were promoted; the scores of 462 officers on the April 2016 merit list and details of scores of officers who were promoted on or before August 17, this year. The 11 who sought the injunction have been awaiting the Police Service’s promotion advisory board since 2016, for their ratings in qualifying examinations for the rank of sergeant. The judge’s order for the release of the information was disobeyed and the 11 again approached the High Court for another emergency injunction when they learned that the Commissioner was proceeding to promote corporals to sergeants, on a revised merit list dated August 14.

The injunction was granted by Justice Margaret Mohammed and again continued on Tuesday by Justice James Aboud. The affected officers are Audie Moona, Jerry London, Curt Douglas, Rene Katwaroo, Rameshwar Gopaul, Daryl Theophilus, Jimmy Marcano, Dirk John, Anslem Knott and Terrence Salandy.

In their lawsuit, they said that due to a shortage of sergeants in the service, a number of them were called upon to act. The 11 said that in 2015, they were informed they would be considered by the board for promotion and would be given an opportunity to engage in the process. In April 2016, a merit list was released, but 11 officers’ names were not on it. Attorneys Jagdeo Singh, Dinesh Rambally, Kiel Taklalsingh and Stefan Ramkissoon appeared for the 11.

Commissioner Alexander yesterday met with the 82 inmates, some of whom have been deemed ‘high risk’, to give them an opportunity to air their grievances with him.

On Wednesday, a remand prisoner who was not taken to court because police officers failed to show, began vandalising the cell where he is housed by breaking pipe fittings and the toilet. Sources revealed that another prisoner also tried to rip off tiles from the ceiling.

A prison supervisor tried to subdue the prisoner who grabbed a length of metal pipe and beat him.

Other prison officers intervened and the inmate was subdued.

He sustained a hairline fracture to his leg while being subdued and was taken to hospital for treatment. Other prisoners claim the prisoner suffered the injury as a result of a savage beating at the hands of prison officers.

Commissioner Alexander confirmed that the prison supervisor suffered injuries to his abdomen and that a prisoner suffered a hairline fracture. He said that the matter was now under investigation. Alexander said that despite his busy schedule, he decided to visit the facility yesterday to speak to the prisoners.

“I spoke with all of them and I told them to let me know what their grievances were, I told them not to exaggerate their situation, to come clean with me and I will do my best to sort out their complaints,” Alexander said. He added that most complaints were about the need for more airing out time, a request for more silent fans and cleaner cells.

Alexander said others complained of being incarcerated too far from their families who live in Port of Spain and West Trinidad. He promised these prisoners to try and have them transferred to the city prison.

This is the fourth year the festival has showcased dozens of local chocolate makers, chocolatiers, cosmetics made with cacao, cocoa inspired jewelry, sweet and savoury cocoa-flavoured foods.

This year the offerings will be expanded even more than the previous years.

Individual chocolate makers will teach the basics of small scale chocolate making and chocolate tasting. The Cocoa Development Company will run an informational booth on cocoa growing and the cocoa sector. Children will get to paint, play and taste and secure parking available.

This is not the first time a presiding officer in our Parliament has been called upon to execute a casting vote and many times presiding officer voted with the Government.

Therefore, the question arises: what is the proper protocol in executing a casting vote? In Friday’s sitting the Speaker voted three times with the Government and without casting aspersions one must examine if this measures up with what is considered proper parliamentary procedure.

Our nation has adopted the Westminster system of government and, as the name suggests, most of the protocols and procedures which we follow are derived from the UK’s Parliament, located at Westminster Palace. When one reviews the procedure of the Speaker’s casting vote as stated in the UK House of Commons Practice and Procedure guidelines, one would note the following: “…certain conventions have developed as a guide to Speakers (and chairs in a committee of the whole) in the infrequent exercise of the casting vote. Concisely put, the Speaker normally votes to maintain the status quo. This entails voting in the following fashion: “
* Whenever possible, leaving the matter open for future consideration and allowing for further discussion by the House; “
* Whenever no further discussion is possible, preserving the possibility that the matter might somehow be brought back in the future and be decided by a majority of the House; and “
* Leaving a bill in its existing form rather than causing it to be amended.” In 1863, these conventions were acknowledged in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada when the Speaker was called upon to give a casting vote, and gave as his reason “that in the case of an equal division, the practice was that the Speaker should keep the question as long as possible before the House in order to afford a further opportunity to the House of expressing an opinion upon it.

As one reflects on what transpired at Friday’s sitting, one could see this was very far from the suggested protocol which our Westminster system of government dictates, given that the Speaker choose to vote against the status quo and have the two motions before the House as well as the sitting of the House adjourned.

It is clear to see that the Speaker’s casting vote in support of the three Government motions were contrary to the Westminster form of Government Practice and Procedure.

NICHOLAS MORRIS via email