Govt backs Finance Minister
PORT SPAIN
Trinidad & Tobago Newsday
Petroleumworldtt.com
03 17 09
THE GOVERNMENT yesterday closed ranks behind embattled Finance Minister Karen Nunez- Tesheira. The minister has been accused by Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar of breaching the Integrity in Public Life Act by failing to disclose her ownership of 10,410 shares in the CL Financial Group before signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with group chairman Lawrence Duprey on January 30 to bail out Colonial Life Insurance Company (Clico) and three other CL Financial subsidaries.
As House Leader Colm Imbert and Senate Leader Conrad Enill led the Government's rally behind Nunez-Tesheira, Persad-Bissessar did not deliver on her promise to submit documents yesterday to the Fraud Squad to investigate any “possible criminal conduct” by Nunez-Tesheira under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Persad-Bissessar said these documents will be sent to the Fraud Squad today and she will also be raising the minister's ownership of CL Financial shares as a matter of definite urgent public importance later in the House of Representatives. The Siparia MP will also bring a substantive motion calling for Nunez-Tesheira's removal. Even if Speaker Barry Sinanan allows the motion, it will be defeated due to the Government's majority in the House.
Nunez-Tesheira is currently in New York on government business and will miss the sitting. Prime Minister Patrick Manning returns home from a Caricom meeting in Belize today but it is uncertain whether he will return in time for the House sitting.
Addressing the post-Cabinet news conference at the Prime Minister's Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's, Imbert said, “ It is a complex matter and therefore I do not think that it is appropriate for us to comment until the issues are resolved.”
Asked by Newsday if he still had confidence in Nunez-Tesheira's ability to continue as a member of the Cabinet, Imbert replied, “Of course.” Enill said while there was considerable public debate about Nunez-Tesheira's financial affairs, “what needs to be said is that Government intervened in the financial services sector at a time when without the intervention and because of the size of that particular entity, we could have had the collapse of the services sector.”
Story from Trinidad & Tobago Newsday
Trinidad & Tobago Newsday
March 12 2009
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