Moontown

(DNO) The Dominica Public Service Union is speaking of positive negotiations with government on a number of non salary matters, while it has rejected a latest 3 percent salary increase proposal.

Thomas Letang, general secretary of the DPSU, says government has been expressing interest in several of the union’s undertakings.

“We have made a lot of positive inroads in that area,” Letang said, citing the establishment of a preparatory school that the PSU intends to open.

Letang said government has also shown interest in assisting with a health fund for public officers. (Dominica News)

The People’s Progressive Party has accused Stabroek News of publishing the results of what it calls a “bogus poll,” which it says is a move to “confuse and mislead” the people of this country.

On Friday, June 4, this newspaper published the findings of a poll conducted in March this year by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (CADRES), which showed that the governing PPP/Civic continued to command the single largest bloc of voters but had lost significant support since 2006, and that an alliance between opposition parties could produce an outcome in their favour.

In a statement yesterday the PPP said that it wished to draw attention to the resemblance between this poll, and what it called the “fraudulent” one made public by the AFC in 2006, which gave the PPP/C 36% of the vote. The CADRES poll gave the governing party 38%.

The 2006 poll was conducted by Dick Morris, and the statement went on to say that at a press conference Morris had claimed that the AFC had overtaken the PNCR-1G in terms of voter support, although he and the AFC were “dead wrong,” since the PPP won 54.5% of the votes.
The PPP said that the Morris poll had also predicted that the AFC would hold the balance of power in Parliament, a prediction which was wrong.

The CADRES poll projected that if an election were called in March the AFC could hold the balance of power.

“This type of bogus poll,” the statement said, “reflects the desperation of some sections of the opposition as it notes the big and enthusiastic reception that the PPP/C is getting wherever it goes.” It then alluded to the Cabinet outreach in Region 3 on June 2, which it said was an example of this, and asserted that the popularity of the PPP and the PPP/C government had “never been so high.”

In a comment on the PPP allegation of a “bogus poll,” Sunday Stabroek editor Anna Benjamin said that CADRES of Barbados was a reputable polling organization with a recognized track record in the Caribbean. (Stabroek News)

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

SENIOR MEMBERS of the security team in Tivoli Gardens and its environs are contending that their efforts to restore order to the besieged area are being severely thwarted by strong countervailing forces that have been called in by the State to assist in the investigative process.

The Sunday Gleaner was told that compact discs containing graphic images of victims, among other things, which were in the possession of senior security officials and turned over to a select group of persons, are being seen on hundreds of cellular phone screens, locally and internationally.

A senior official, who asked that his identity be withheld, said he believed that a calculated plot had been hatched to disrupt the process by inciting already grief-stricken relatives, as well as ordinary Jamaicans, against the security operations.

“The struggle to restore normality in the aftermath of the upheaval is as tough as the all-out combat with gunmen. Now we are up against a different force,” a senior official told The Sunday Gleaner.

“The process should not be thwarted by those who should be assisting in the efforts,” the security official said.

“It is frightening that Jamaicans who claim to be so caring and humanitarian in one breath can be so cruel in the next, without giving a second thought to their action,” he declared.

The police moved another step yesterday by opening a police post in the community for the first time.

National Security Minister Dwight Nelson also signalled that it was time that the security forces moved on to tackle the challenges in other areas.

Working to reveal truth

The members of the security forces say, given the sensitive nature of the operation at this stage when people are struggling to cope, they are willing to work with all parties to ensure that the truth is revealed.

Asked whether there was any way that the source of the leaked images could be traced to prevent suspicion to all parties involved, the security official said this would be difficult, as they were on so many phones and the images continued to be transmitted.

He would not name all the persons who were given compact discs of the images, but indicated that the police had a strong suspicion as to the source of the leak.

The Sunday Gleaner was taken to the area where relatives are allowed to identify the bodies of the victims.

Police personnel were keen to point out that the body of the woman who allegedly had been gnawed by dogs was still intact.

Even a wig that was worn by the victim, Petrina Edwards, was in place, if somewhat askew.

There were no visible bite marks to support the claim that the woman’s body had been mutilated by dogs.

“One, two, three, four, five,” declared an officer monitoring the exercise, carefully demonstrating that all fingers and limbs were intact.

Documents showed that the body was identified on Wednesday.

“The lies and half-truths do not help any of us at this stage,” declared a police officer.

In the meantime, the Ministry of National Security has disclosed that 47 of the 73 bodies had been identified up to late Friday and that the identification process would continue at the Tivoli Gardens Community Centre and the Denham Town Police Station on Monday.(Jamaica Gleaner)

- gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com

Philip Hamilton, Gleaner Writer

The west Kingston enclave of Tivoli Gardens and seven neighbouring communities are robbing the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) of an estimated $271 million in revenue each year.

Hundreds of residents of these communities pay no utility bills and the JPS is feeling the heat.

There are some residents of west Kingston who have never paid a JPS bill in their lives, even though their houses contain the most elaborate electrical appliances.

“Some residents have air-condition units installed in their homes which they run all year round and, as far as I know, they’ve never paid a light bill,” a source told The Sunday Gleaner.

“I can’t even afford an AC unit, yet there are some persons there who are beating the system,” the source said.

Most do not pay

Representatives of the JPS told The Sunday Gleaner that most residents of Tivoli Gardens do not pay for the electricity they use.

According to JPS records, fewer than 30 of the more than 4,000 residents in the the community are registered as customers.

The JPS says while some meter readers have ventured into the community, most stay away out of fear.

The company has, on several occasions, disconnected the illegal power lines in the community, but these are usually restored almost as soon as the disconnection teams have left.

In the late 1990s, the JPS - as part of its effort to get non-paying persons in inner-city communities to register as legitimate customers - introduced a flat rate pilot project in Tivoli Gardens, Central Court, Denham Town, Seaview Gardens and Torrington Park.

However, the project was short-lived, as it did not produce the desired results.

Now, Tivoli is among several inner-city communities where the JPS is considering the implementation of a residential advanced metering infrastructure (RAMI).

This is being designed to prevent illegal access to JPS power lines.

RAMI in communities

The RAMI project, which significantly reduces opportunities for throw-ups and meter tampering, was recently implemented in Seaview Gardens, St Andrew, and is currently being introduced to some communities in St James and St Catherine where electricity theft is rampant.

In the meantime, the National Water Commission (NWC) is also looking at measures to improve its collection in Tivoli Gardens and adjoining communities.

Although the NWC was unable to say how much money was going down the drain in Tivoli, the company indicated that it could be losing millions of dollars.

According to the NWC, only 10 per cent of its customers in Tivoli paid their water bills regularly.(Jamaica Gleaner)

- philip.hamilton@gleanerjm.com

Lightbourne

Barnett

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Barbara Gayle, Senior Staff Reporter

As the Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke extradition saga continues, efforts, far removed from the routine extradition hearing, are being made in the courts. However, transparency has become a casualty, with the information channels of the Supreme Court Registry and the Ministry of Justice suffering a severe censorship meltdown.

An application to seek a declaration from the courts of Jamaica “as to whether the minister of justice has (a) the authority and (b) the obligation to consider breaches of our laws and breaches which led to a breach of the treaty in coming to her decision” was filed in the civil division of the Supreme Court on April 15. However, the media later discovered that what was supposed to be a very public document from an open government was as difficult to get access to as Coke himself.

The motion was filed in the Supreme Court Registry by Minister of Justice and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne, but the recording had an unusual difference.

Normally, the suit number and the parties involved are listed in the suit book, but in this case, all that was in the book was a suit number, starting an information roadblock for journalists.

The file could not be located in the registry, and journalists were directed to get the relevant information from Rosemarie Harris, the registrar of the Supreme Court.

“I can only say who the respondents are. You will have to get the rest of the information from the lawyers who filed the suit,” Harris told The Sunday Gleaner.

Dr Lloyd Barnett, one of the lawyers in the matter, when contacted, said: “It is a public document. You should be able to get the information from the Supreme Court Registry,”

Wouldn’t give date

Harris would not even give the date which had been set for the application to be heard.

“A practice has developed, the authority for which I am not aware, where certain matters are given some unique treatment where the files are not readily available to attorneys-at-law or even the public,” Patrick Atkinson, QC, said.

“This nonsense must stop,” Atkinson argued.

He said the public has a right to know about the cases taking place in the courts, particularly when they deal with matters concerning public interest and rights.

Another lawyer who was asked to comment on the issue said: “There is a principle at stake here.”

The lawyer - who requested that his name be withheld - said documents filed in the Supreme Court are generally public documents to which the media, on behalf of the public, should have access.

“It is not that the media were seeking an unusual or unreasonable favour, like trying to discover information from documents filed by a divorcing couple, or details relating to custody of a child,” the lawyer added.

The Supreme Court’s website is so out of date and unreliable - for weeks at a time the Appeal Court postings cannot be accessed - making it almost irrelevant.

Checks by The Sunday Gleaner of other websites for supreme courts around the world underlined how far behind Jamaica is in terms of access to judgments and other information.

In the case of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, judgments are usually posted on the website hours after they are handed down.

It is a similar matter on the website of the United States Supreme Court, where the latest judgment is dated June 1, 2010.(Jamaica Gleaner)

- barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com

A young Coke

Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke

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Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

AS A young student at Ardenne High School in the mid-1980s, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke was his math teacher’s delight. He was a quiet one who sat at the back of the class while turning out impressive homework and test grades.

Coke, who attended Ardenne between 1981 and 1986, never willingly raised his hand to answer questions, and when he was called upon, he politely declined the teacher’s behest.

But test after test, he gradually became one of the math teacher’s favourites, and he was ushered into a select group of students who were seen as math geniuses, and were specially prepared to sit the subject at the CXC level by fourth form.

Coke and many of the others in the group were rewarded with grade one passes.

Math was one of the few subjects that intrigued Coke. Religious education (RE) was the only other. The young man was scoring in the 80s with RE, but was flunking almost all other courses and had an inconsistent record of attendance.

Administrators at Ardenne High told The Sunday Gleaner that students’ records were confidential and could not be released.

However, our news team was able to access Coke’s past reports from other sources.

While he consistently performed well at RE, Coke’s overall average declined steadily, as he moved from first to fifth form in all other subjects.

Available documents show that Coke started grade 10 doing eight subjects but ended the year doing only five.

However, Coke had a strong commitment to mathematics and was highly motivated by a teacher of the subject who seemed to have captured his attention.

Hard to forget

The teacher told The Sunday Gleaner that it would be hard for him to forget Coke because he was among the first group of fourth-form students he prepared to sit the regional exam in a year, under the ambit of a special programme at Ardenne.

The teacher, whose name is being withheld, insisted that no member of that class failed the exams and recalled that the boys in the batch did particularly well.

Despite being born into a family led by crime boss Lester Lloyd ‘Jim Brown’ Coke, which included the feared gangster Mark Anthony ‘Jah T’ Coke, Coke stayed out of trouble during his years in secondary school.

Ardenne then, and up to now, is a highly sought-after high school in St Andrew. The institution, born out of the Church of God in Jamaica, has a sterling reputation for academic excellence.

The math teacher remembered Coke as one of his elite batch, picked at the end of the ninth grade.

Having breezed through CXC math Coke tackled the dreaded additional mathematics (add math) in Grade 11 and scored a Grade B - the second-highest mark.

“Math is the only universal language, and he spoke it very fluently,” the teacher reminisced. “I taught him for five years straight. Basically, he was the model student; very quiet, and there were no problems in terms of discipline,” said the educator who started teaching in 1976.

“He was a bright fellow, very well behaved. There was no two ways about the behaviour. At least, I can say he was a bright mathematics student.”

The young Coke was a man of few words, the math teacher recalled.

“I can’t remember him ever asking a question in class. He never volunteered to come to the board. When called upon, he would decline respectfully.”

Because Coke did not say much, it was difficult to tell if he was grasping the lessons; but the marking of homework assignments and grading of tests were what proved to Coke’s teacher that the lad was learning.

On one of the rare occasions Coke broke his code of silence, the teacher remembered him sharing with other students his experience with snow overseas.

“The other students were fascinated by the tale he told,” the teacher said.

Still, the educator did not know who Coke was.

It was not until years later that the teacher found out that some of Coke’s fellow students knew all along that he was from west Kingston’s most feared enclave - Tivoli Gardens - where Jim Brown, head of the notorious Shower Posse, ruled with an iron fist.

Another Ardenne insider told The Sunday Gleaner that during his days at the school, the man now known as the ‘President’ or ‘Bossy’ was quite the saint.

According to the insider, the schoolboy Coke was not a miscreant and was unassuming.

“He was very quiet (and) was not a troublemaker. And, I don’t think anybody knew who he was,” the insider said.

Coke’s former math teacher shared that his class was often punctuated by jokes, but while students would laugh at his quips, Coke would only offer quick glances and smiles before burying his head back in his book.

In addition to being a math whiz, the teacher considered Coke a good footballer, but recalled that he never donned the blue and gold of Ardenne.

“I figured, probably, the exposure would have been too much for him,” the teacher said.

Chance meeting

After Coke completed his studies at Ardenne, the teacher’s next encounter with the lad he still calls ‘Michael’ was some seven years later.

That chance meeting in 1993, which ended shortly after they exchanged pleasantries, was how Coke’s former math teacher found out that Michael was the son of the notorious Jim Brown, who was burnt to death in February 1992 in his jail cell while awaiting extradition to the US.

Several years later, he saw Coke again at another institution where he taught. After dropping off a young man at the school, Coke saw his former teacher and waved to him.

Unable to make out who was calling to him, the teacher decided to ask the young man who had come out of the car.

The student, who claimed he was a relative of Coke’s, told the teacher that it was the ‘President’ who was driving.

After that, the student frequently told the teacher that the ‘President’ sent his greetings.

Coke was to become a businessman, heading several ventures in construction and entertainment.

His quiet, but strong leadership ability has kept him at the helm of a community that seemed overawed by his power.

He slipped effortlessly into the post left vacant with the death of his father, and appeared equally comfortable with politicians from either side of the divide.

The United States Department of Justice last year included Coke on that country’s list of Consolidated Priority Organisation Targets, which includes the world’s most dangerous narcotics kingpins.

Coke is currently on the run as he tries to avoid possible extradition to the United States to face gun and drug charges.

The experienced educator suggested that based on his scholastic ability, Coke could have gone on to great things.

“He had all the ingredients. He would have been something better had it not been for the weight of the crown awaiting him.”

- tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com

• Quiet student

Gained a distinction in CXC math exam in fourth form

Passed add math in fifth form

• A Tivoli resident

A Dudus wi seh same way and dat naw go change. Di world know seh if dem hold him dem a go kill him, so wi understand seh him did affi leave di place .

• Former teacher

He had all the ingredients. He would have been something better had it not been for the weight of the crown awaiting him.

• Clergyman Bobby Wilmot

He is not a true leader… . A true leader would say ‘Here am I’, and face the music. If you are the leader, you should protect your people.

• Former math teacher

I taught him for five years straight. He was very quiet and there were no problems with discipline … . Math is the only universal language, and he spoke it very fluently.

• A senior cop

Coke runs the most sophisticated drug ring in Jamaica. His network includes thousands of drug couriers travelling across the region, to the US and the UK, providing protection services to persons moving large quantities of narcotics across borders. (Jamaica Gleaner)

It was sold as the only deal on the table. But the truth is, it was the only debt-restructuring deal the Osbourne Nurse-led Home Construction Ltd (HCL) board of directors had any interest in, according to insiders.

A previous proposal in the early stage of negotiations by the former Steve Bideshi management failed to find favour with the Government-appointed board of directors. Bideshi, who replaced HCL’s chief executive officer Hayden Ameerali in 2009, had proposed a $700 million bond facility to refinance outstanding obligations to First Citizens Bank (FCB), Unit Trust Corporation (UTC) and Clico Investment Bank (CIB).

The proposal was scuttled by Nurse, who cited conflict of interest issues with Bideshi’s dual role as chief executive officer of the CL Financial Group and acting CEO of the HCL, according to insiders.

Nurse took over the mantle of leadership at HCL in February this year and would emerge as the lead negotiator on the FCB debt-restructuring proposal, which, up until recently, involved the sale of prized company assets.

And while insiders report negotiations with FCB were actively underway since early in the year, a board minute of April 23 talked about failed discussions with RBTT Ltd to underwrite a $700 million bond structure and of consideration now being given to approaching FCB. The board minute noted: ’The chairman would initiate discussions with FCB on this matter.’

Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT) was one of two financial institutions that were in talks with Bideshi. The other was the National Insurance Board (NIB), which had initially agreed to put up $500 million of the $700 million being sought to refinance outstanding debt. The company has significant debt of $2.1 billion. (Trinidad Express)

People’s National Movement (PNM) central coordinator Etienne Mendez has called for the appointment of an interim party leader and has written to party chairman Conrad Enill to convene a special session of the General Council for this purpose.

In the letter sent to Enill last Wednesday, Mendez said the party’s constitution allows for an interim leader and its decision to give four weeks for the party to find a leader was not the best course of action.

On May 27, three days after the PNM lost a general election to the People’s Partnership, the General Council accepted the resignation of former leader Patrick Manning at Balisier House in Port of Spain.

Last Friday, Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley took up the position of Opposition Leader.

The General Council then issued the four-week decision, which it said will culminate in a special convention on June 27, at which the new leader will be appointed.

Mendez, in a letter copied to party elections officer Linus Rogers, warned the party will regret abiding by the Council’s command.

He said the decision has ’set the stage for a hasty marriage, perhaps of convenience, which could lead the way to a leisurely repentance in Opposition, to the long-term detriment of Trinidad and Tobago’.

He said, there is no way the party can prepare for a special convention in three weeks’ time. He also said precedent existed for the appointment of an interim political leader.

’I submit that notwithstanding the party’s constitution, precedent exists for a situation such as has now come to pass, whereby in 1986, with a vacancy created by the departure of George M Chambers, political leader, an interim political leader was appointed (by either the General Council or by a special convention, it does not matter), and a political leader was elected in (special or annual) convention some nine months later when Mr Manning defeated Aeneas Wills in the internal party elections,’ Mendez wrote, adding it is his understanding the information was offered to the Council by one Bobby Charles and was rejected.

The party’s constitution, he said, allows for six months to elapse between the existing vacancy and election of a new leader.

Challenging the Council to check the accuracy of his claims, Mendez said that if it is so, the council’s decision was made on misinformation and must be ’reconsidered’. (Trinidad Express)

Beleaguered CL Financial subsidiary signs TT$1.073 billion debt-restructuring contract on eve of May 24 general election
Camini Marajh Investigative Desk

Osbourne Nurse, the Government appointed-chairman of Home Construction Ltd, the flagship real-estate company of troubled financial giant CL Financial, pushed through a controversial billion-dollar debt-restructuring deal with State-owned First Citizens Bank (FCB) on the eve of the May 24 general election.

Sources familiar with the transaction told the Sunday Express the $1.073 billion debt-restructuring contract signed days before the elections, on May 20, contains a controversial payment of several millions in ’consultants’ fees’ to Pan American Finance (PAF) Securities, an FCB-hired firm of consultants from Miami, USA.

(Signing of the contract) It also paves the way for Nurse, the Government-appointed adviser on the CL Financial recovery effort, to put in two senior officers of his choice to manage the financial and organisational restructuring of the cash-strapped property development conglomerate.

Nurse, who is said to have pushed through the debt-restructuring deal over the objections of the group’s management, refused to discuss the transaction, saying he has no intention of making HCL’s business affairs public.

Reached for comment, Nurse, the former executive chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and a key figure in the creation of FCB (merger of three failed indigenous banks), responded angrily to questions about the lumping of FCB restructuring-related transaction costs into the May 20 contract.

’Let who is giving you information give you the correct information,’ was Nurse’s response to questions about the cash-strapped HCL being saddled with a contractual burden to pay for a report commissioned by its main banker in January 2009.

Pressed further, he said: ’Why are you giving credence to mischief?’ Asked again whether HCL was being forced to pay FCB-related costs on the PAF analysis, Nurse said: ’You check and see what is standard between any bank and its client, that is all you have to do.’

But is it true? Nurse was asked. ’It is a foolish question,’ he dismissed. Why is it foolish? According to Nurse: ’Because it arises out of an intent to make mischief.’ Asked again if the contract he signed on May 20 obliged the property conglomerate into paying FCB restructuring-related fees, he said: ’I am not telling you HCL’s business.’

Sources, however, say the imposition of FCB’s consultants’ fees was a bitter bone of contention between the Nurse-headed board of Government-appointed directors and the Lawrence Duprey management of HCL, the country’s premier property development company.

The controversial contract signed by Nurse and HCL company secretary Roxanne Husbands does not specifically identify PAF Securities. But a clause under the heading ’expenses’ says this: ’The borrower shall reimburse the lenders for all reasonable out-of-pocket fees and expenses, including legal fees, consultants’ fees and stamp duties related to this agreement.’

The Miami-based firm of consultants presented its report to the state-owned bank in February 2009, one month after the global financial crisis brought the giant conglomerate, with assets of $100 billion, to its knees. A key recommendation that was adopted by the State-owned bank, and later by the Osbourne Nurse board of directors, was the sale of principal assets, specifically some crown jewels in HCL’s trophy cabinet:

- Four shopping malls -Trincity, Long Circular, Valpark Shopping Plaza and Atlantic Plaza

- Its chain of Tru Valu supermarkets

- Holiday Inn Express

- Other assets and land

Sources close to the transaction were sharply critical of the decision to sell off prized assets. One analyst likened what was taking place to a fire sale, with prospective buyers lined up waiting in the wings. Other financial and industry observers questioned the numbers in the PAF valuation of assets.

One financial expert claimed the numbers were way off the chart and was a virtual giveaway.

The PAF analysis gave the four shopping malls an equity value range of between $20 million to $100 million, assuming a debt portfolio of $700 million. By its own calculations, PAF estimated a fair market value range of between $720 million to $800 million for the shopping malls. The four malls generate an annual income in excess of $150 million, according to insiders.

Tru Valu was placed in a valuation range of $90 million to $105 million and given an equity value listing of $36 million to $51 million, assuming $54 million in debt. Holiday Inn Express, which is close to the Piarco Airport and Trincity Mall was valued between $65 million to $75 million. The hotel, which has an outstanding debt of $49 million to the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC), was given an estimated equity value of $16 million to $26 million.

A source close to the company said the PAF numbers were somewhat conservative and the proposed Nurse/ FCB sale of assets’ plan was not in HCL’s best interest. The Sunday Express was told stiff management opposition to the proposed sale of assets has forced Nurse to dramatically scale back on the $1 billion debt-restructuring plan, which had received the board of directors’ approval.

He has negotiated, instead, a rollover of outstanding debt which, under the FCB structure, pushes up the timeline for HCL’s development programme. And depending on who you talk to, the jury is still out on whether this is the best debt restructuring approach for the beleaguered group. Insiders admit the FCB structure is going to box (HCL) the group into a corner with little wriggle room for manoeuvre. For now, however, the group gets to keep its crown jewels until such time it is no longer able to meet its debt and service interest payments. (Trinidad Express)

Architect Stephen Mendes confirms Patrick Manning’s involvement in Guanapo church
Sasha Mohammed CCN Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist

Architect Stephen Mendes, the man who has held the key as to whether former prime minister Patrick Manning was personally involved in the commissioning of the controversial Guanapo church project, has finally broken his silence on the matter, confirming the ’PM’ he wrote about in a letter dated May 2, 2006, in fact, referred to Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

The revelation comes exactly three weeks after the country’s new Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar held a news conference on May 15, 2010, nine days before the May 24 polls, in her capacity as leader of the People’s Partnership, to unveil documents purported to link Manning directly to the Guanapo Heights project where a church was being built on State lands for Manning’s personal spiritual adviser Rev Juliana Pena.

From those documents, Persad-Bissessar produced Mendes’ May 2 letter, which was addressed to former Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) executive chairman Calder Hart, and in it, he stated:

’The structural drawings developed to date are not in accordance with the recent changes made to the architectural drawings as a result of recent PM’s requests. Additionally, they need to be developed in far greater detail.

’Additionally, the consultants need to develop and finalise their general arrangement drawings due to the recent changes called for by the PM, including those related to the residential component appended to the church.’

In an exclusive sworn, signed statement to the CCN group on Friday, following several weeks of attempts to get him to comment on the controversial issue, Mendes said:

’The ’PM’ referred to in a letter I wrote, dated 2 May, 2006, which I addressed to the chairman of UDeCOTT, Calder Hart, was the then prime minister Patrick Manning.’

Manning has now famously said PM ’may mean Project Manager’. He, also, had said ’maybe’ Hart was involved in his ’personal capacity’, given that UDeCOTT had denied involvement of the company in the controversial project.

But by and large, Manning, who has publicly said he wants to be a preacher in the born-again Christian faith after he leaves politics, had never given any comprehensive statement on the matter,

In his statement to CCN, Mendes explains he had not responded to public calls to clarify what PM meant in the past three weeks due to his severe illness, which nearly cost him his life.

Mendes said, too, his family had been shielding him from the media and work, but he now felt well enough to make the statement confirming Manning’s personal involvement in the church.

But more than clearing up that matter, Mendes’ confirmation has the effect of again pinpointing a close personal relationship between Manning and Hart, who is currently under a criminal investigation for his alleged financial misappropriation in various UDeCOTT projects.

Hart skipped the country after a personal one-on-one meeting nearly two months ago with Manning and is yet to return amid an active police investigations into his dealings.

Mendes’ newest revelation about Manning’s personal role, also, could lead to the speeding up the criminal investigation requested by Persad-Bissessar into the matter where she claimed the entire fiasco was in breach of the Prevention of Corruption Act, a criminal offence which carries a severe jail term and $500,000 fine.

In Mendes’ statement, the architect explains in detail his involvement in the controversial project, which was commissioned in 2005 in the name of Manning’s official spiritual adviser, Rev Pena.

The name of the Church is the Lighthouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Shanghai Construction Ltd, the Chinese firm involved in its construction on over four hectares of State lands at the Heights of Guanapo, Arima, at a cost of $30m, also built the prime minister’s official residence under the Manning administration.

Previous reports have noted Pena was introduced to Mendes by Calder Hart in 2005, and she appealed to the architect to do the design for the church pro bono.

He agreed to do so, and in his sworn statement to CCN, he noted that:

’Since my first introduction to the Rev Juliana Pena in 2005, I personally have not seen nor heard from her. Mr Calder Hart seemed to have taken up the role of representing her after that.’

Manning had famously stood up in Parliament in February and said he was not involved in the personal commissioning of the church, and taxpayers’ dollars were not funding the multi-million-dollar project. But Mendes states:

’I met the then prime minister Patrick Manning at Whitehall at Calder Hart’s request on two occasions, at which my design of the church was discussed.’

He adds:

’From my records, it appears that I ceased doing any design work on this project at least three years ago, neither have I communicated with the consulting engineers within the last two years, in respect of the design of this project. About this time, Calder Hart had agreed with me that the project should go the design/build route and effectively, I ceased doing any further work.’

Mendes also confirmed that despite the letters for Town and Country Planning approvals going to him, he was never the applicant nor owner of this project.

He also stated he had ’no idea whatsoever of how this project was to be financed, nor who was responsible for it and how the design for the church found its way apparently on to drawings for the prime minister’s residence.’

When she had exposed the documents on the church, Persad-Bissessar had provided drawings prepared by a firm, Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tongii University (Group) Co Ltd. These drawings identified the general contractor as SCG International (Trinidad and Tobago) Ltd, Shanghai Construction Group.

’What is of great interest to me is the client. The client is listed as UDeCOTT,’ Persad-Bissessar had said.

’In other words, the construction drawings were prepared for UDeCOTT and for the use of Shanghai Construction Group! There should really be no surprise there since Shanghai Construction Group was brought into the country to construct buildings for UDeCOTT,’ she had pointed out.

She had said the church project was listed on the drawings as ’Outdoor stage project of Prime Minister’s House’. Persad Bissessar has noted this addition was not built at the prime minister’s residence in St Ann’s but another outdoor stage building was constructed there, also by Shanghai Construction Group, at a cost of $10 million in 2009.

She had said she had the drawings and photographs analysed to confirm the building described in the plans, done by Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tongii University (Group) Co Ltd, was exactly the same as that being used for the building at the site of the church.

Questioning how the similarities of the designs-for the outdoor stage project of the prime minister’s house and Guanapo church-and the same company was involved in both projects, Persad-Bissessar said the matter suggested ’criminal conduct and the abuse of State funds and lands by the prime minister of this country for personal gain.’ She had sent her file to the Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert and Director Of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard asking for a criminal probe. She had also requested an Integrity Commission probe into the matter.

Yesterday, in a telephone interview with CCN, Persad-Bissessar, now Prime Minister of T&T, said the matter was in the hands of the police.

She stressed, however:

’I would have never revealed those documents if I were not sure of their authenticity. I hope that Mr Mendes is willing to cooperate with the police in this matter since it is one of public interest for the citizens of this country. I’m also assured that the police will do their job in properly investigating and getting to the bottom of this worrying issue.’

In his statement to CCN, Mendes said he was more than willing to assist the police in their probe, noting:

’I welcome any enquiry into the church and would be happy to cooperate in further clarifying what I can on this issue.

Neither Manning, Hart nor Pena has ever offered further clarifications on the controversial Guanapo church project. (Trinidad Express)