The landlord of the bar which Dinanath operated expressed surprise on learning that he was living in Curepe saying that the information he had was that Dinanath was from Dam Road in Point Fortin. “I don’t know much about his private life, but I know he was a seer…a Pundit in Point Fortin,” said a friend who spoke at the Asylum Bar yesterday.

“If he really was a seer-man, I don’t know how come he didn’t see this coming,” the man added.

According to reports, relatives were trying to reach Dinanath on his cell phone up to Monday afternoon, but to no avail. Worried, they went to check on him at his apartment and found the place broken into and ransacked.

They found Dinanath dead in a room. An autopsy yesterday revealed Dinanath died as a result of massive haemorrhaging from the slit across his throat. Police believe the motive behind Dinanth’s murder was robbery as he was known to wear alot of thick gold jewelry.

No arrest has been made and investigations.

He said this figure in the 18 month period before October 2015 was $570,107,188. Rambharat attributed this decline to factors such as increased availability of local produce at farmers’ markets at better prices, challenging in obtaining foreign exchange and a lower wheat prices over the last three years.

Later in the sitting, Rambharat disclosed that guns that were procured for his ministry for the Praedial Larceny Squad, went missing in 2014. He said this situation was outlined in the recently submitted Auditor General’s report to Parliament and might not have received attention, were it not for the actions of a whistle- blower.

Saying these guns which could have “found their way on to the streets,” have since been found and are being kept in a safe place.

He added that an investigation into this matter is ongoing.

Residents of Lower Railway Road heard gunshots at about 1 am yesterday.

When they checked, they found Cedeno bleeding on the road.

He was taken to the Arima Health Centre and then to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope where he later died. Police said Ceden was shot in the head and chest.

Relatives yesterday told Newsday that Cedeno was a friendly, outgoing, hard-working person who was always well-dressed, until he fell into drug use.

“He was a real good dresser,” said Cedeno’s sister at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday, “He always used to look good. People around him used to get jealous when they saw him dress.” Relatives said Cedeno worked as a warehouse attendant in San Juan.

When he lost his job he wandered the streets. “He used to pick fruits and sell them just to get money to buy his drugs,” said the sister. “After our mother died last year he got off the drugs and was staying with my niece. He was starting to get better.

It was like seeing him the way he was before. But five months later he went back on drugs and went back to the streets”

Declaring the GCP opened in its auditorium, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said, “What we expect today, is that as Government moves into one and a half million square feet of first class office space, there would be significant reduction of rental of private sector premises.” The plaza, he continued, is an extremely costly piece of infrastructure and Government would be the first to acknowledge there was underestimation of costs and significant management issues .

These issues, he added, “should in no way defeat the product of the vision.” Housed within the plaza are the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs; Immigration Division and the Board of Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise Division of the Ministry of Finance .

The new facility will save Government $18.3 million annually in rental and the plaza will house 3,291 public servants in stateof- the art offices, reducing the number of public officers working in unsuitable work spaces which draws scrutiny from the Occupational Health and Safety Agency and the ire of representative trades unions .

Rowley said, if Government had to rent accommodation of this quality in the city, “We are talking about a quarter billion this year. We are talking about an annual rental of about $360 million. Not that we are here for free. There would be significant maintenance cost on these structures.” Arrangements to maintain the buildings, security and other considerations will be put in place, he said. Noting there will be a number of unused buildings Government will no longer rent, he called on the owners to consider providing them for housing to the upper and lower middle class in the city. It was always Government’s intention, Rowley said, not to rely heavily on rental accommodation. Many property owners, he added, made a handsome penny renting to Government, renting in some instances, sub-standard buildings .

Noting Finance Minister Colm Imbert would have said there was 700 square feet of vacant space between the Customs and Excise and BIR buildings, Rowley said, “we are now in a position to move the Fraud Squad into those. So that the rash of unattended white collar crimes could be properly attended to.” The Finance Ministry hiring 250 people for administration of the property tax, and hiring of an additional number for VAT, will all be housed in the BIR building .

Rowley called on public servants who previously complained about poor accommodation, to show taxpayers who are footing the bill, their appreciation by improving productively and efficiency .

In times of reduced revenues, he said, Government has completed the GCP and has also done the same thing with the Brain Lara Stadium, scheduled to open on Friday. Whatever the problems were in the beginning with the stadium, he said, let it not be said that Government sank millions of dollars into nothing .

While the Plaza and stadium are big projects, he said, small projects will also be completed despite diminished revenue due to the slump in oil and gas prices. The construction of the Carenage Fish Port facility, Diego Martin Sports Complex and Bagatelle Community Centre, allowed to languish in recent years when revenue was flowing, has begun .

Touching on the ageing Portof- Spain General Hospital, Rowley said there are serious engineering difficulties there and should a sizeable earthquake hit, there could be structural failure .

“We are not embarking on building a new hospital, but we are retrofitting to deal with that real threat in our main hospital,” he said .

Mark’s outbursts came were in response to statements by Finance Minister Colm Imbert that the former People’s Partnership (PP) government was interfering in the selection of the procurement regulator before it demitted office in September 2015. Mark countered that the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) was trying to “hijack the procurement process” and he had a document to prove this.

When Kangaloo told Mark not to shout, Mark replied, “I am not shouting.” Kangaloo told him his right to speak was not being curtailed but he did not have to shout as he contributed to the debate.

While Mark said he would “try to take it down,” he repeatedly shouted at government senators as he rejected Imbert’s comments.

The Senate was suspended for 15 minutes around 3.06 pm but it was not until 3.30 pm that Kangaloo returned. Mark complied with her rulings Imbert said the total package of $85,000 (including a monthly salary of $50,000) per month was being offered to the procurement regulator. Noting Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s salary is $59,680 per month and his own salary was $41,030 per month, Imbert said it was “outrageous for the Opposition to be calling for the regulator to receive a monthly salary of $100,000. He disclosed that under the PP, CEOs of subsidiaries of State Enterprises were being paid that kind of salary for doing nothing and that was, “the low end of the scale.” Imbert said it was “pure hypocrisy” for the Opposition to claim the PNM was interfering in the selection of the regulator by assisting the Office of the President in the recruitment of a firm that would undertake this exercise. He disclosed that a committee chaired by former Senate president Timothy Hamel-Smith was overseeing an exercise that would have led to his ministry playing a direct role in the regulator’s selection. Imbert said Government is taking “a hands off approach” unlike the PP.

Independent Senator David Small supported the objective of the motion but was concerned that the country would not get the regulator it needed to unwind, “decades of accepted corruption.” Small was concerned that the compensation package being offered could result in an underpaid “procurement czar.”Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat supported Imbert as he noted the Financial Intelligence Unit director deals with billions of dollars in suspicious transaction reports and does not receive a monthly salary as high as $100,000.

San Fernando CID officers carried out an exercise at a guest house located at Block 2 in Palmiste during the early morning hours and arrested four persons. Two men and a 19-year-old woman , all from Venezuela were taken into custody after they were unable to produce passports.

A 27-year-old contractor from Chaguanas who was asleep in one of the bedrooms was also arrested after police found a loaded Baretta pistol under his pillow. Cpl Simon, PCs Morris, Lange and others were involved in the operation.

It was only two weeks ago, that a wallet containing documents belonging to the wanted man, along with clothes he was last seen wearing and his cell phone were found in the same area. The items were turned over to police. It was not how Heeralal’s still grieving relatives hoped it would have ended for Rampersad, who chopped his common law wife and mother of two to death on September 7.

The couple had a stormy relationship.

Relatives wanted to see Rampersad face trial for what he did to their loved one. During the melee, he also chopped Heeralal’s daughter Sydney, 13. He was never seen after committing the deadly act. It is believed he took his own life shortly after committing murder.

At 5 pm on Monday, a resident was clearing land behind his house for cultivation when he stumbled upon the skeletal remains.

Police were called in.

The remains were removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy. Relatives of the wanted man are expected to give DNA samples to assist in identification.

“Behind that neighbour’s house have plenty bush and trees and there is also a river running through. Some of the bones were found close to the river,” said a relative of the murdered woman.

Despite the trauma, Sydney wrote the SE A exam last week and relatives are hoping for a good result so as to lift her out of her depressed state over her mother’s death. Heeralal also had a 15-year-old son.

Rampersad was a father of four.

The Galicia ended its service last month.

Speaking in the Senate, Sinanan indicated that the Port Authority is reviewing other options and will be meeting with the association on Friday. Later in the sitting, Energy Minister Franklin Khan said based on its track record over the last eight months, he was not “particularly happy” with Petrotrin’s performance in terms of the frequency of oil spills in the Gulf of Paria.

He said the company is actively involved in the clean up of beaches in the La Brea area which was affected by an oil spill in January.

Khan also said among other measures to prevent oil spills, Petrotrin is pursuing the development of a more robust asset integrity system.

Chicki Portello, Anton Cambridge, Kareem Gomez, Levi Joseph, Anthony Charles and Israel “Arnold” Lara were subdued when their matter was called before Ag Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle in the Portof- Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court and one of their attorneys, Criston J Williams, indicated he had spoken to them and they understood the position the court is in. The men previously appeared before Busby Earle-Caddle on April 26, when they became irate after the magistrate indicated she was unable to preside over their matters and had no choice but to adjourn it to a later date.

They began hurling obscenities as they were being taken out of the courtroom. Other prisoners who were not affected also joined in the protest.

The prisoners’ venting came after the elevation of Ayers-Caesar to the High Court Bench. The judiciary first assured that her appointment as a judge would not have any negative impact on the administration of justice and in particular, those matters over which she had been presiding, but a day after the prisoners’ protest, the former chief magistrate resigned as a judge.

Lawyers for the six are expected to write to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) before Friday to ascertain the prosecution’s position on the murder inquiry.

Busby Earle-Caddle has adjourned the matter to May 23, and urged the defence to write to the DPP. “Please follow up on the letter.

It is a 2010 matter,” she said before adjourning the matter to wait the response of the DPP.

The six have been charged for the murder of CEPEP employee Russell Antoine at Covigne Road on May 2010.

In responding to a question in the Senate yesterday, Dillon said out of this figure, “153 were deemed as homicides.” The minister explained that deaths are classified as natural, unnatural or undetermined.

He said unnatural causes of death include murder and suicides.

He added that for this period, 18 autopsies were defined as undetermined.

Dillon said 268 autopsies were conducted at the Forensic Science Centre in Port-of-Spain while ten were done in Scarborough.