While the “buck was passed” to former Defence Force chief Kenrick Maharaj in the matter of pictures of the Attorney General’s children holding weapons, the AG isn’t “off the hook” says United National Congress MP Barry Padarath.
“In view of Mr Maharaj’s denial of the Defence Force report on the issue, there are now questions on the matter and suspicions have been raised on the integrity of the report and about those who are involved in the investigation of this issue,” Padarath said yesterday.
Padarath made the comment in the wake of Maharaj’s denial of claims current Defence Force Chief of Staff that he (Maharaj), “acting on his own volition,” had authorised Al-Rawi’s children to use the Camp Cumuto shooting range. Photos of the situation were brought to Parliament’s attention by the Opposition last October. A Defence Force report, however, stated the incident didn’t take place in the AG’s presence.
But Maharaj yesterday denied he played any role in the incident.
Addressing this, Padarath said: “Mr Maharaj’s comments clearly put him at a distance from the scenario with the children. Therefore, where did the Defence Force get all of the information they have issued and is this a conspiracy between the Defence Force leadership and the Attorney General?
“We will be pursuing this further because the head of the Defence Force must explain.”
However, Padarath also added, “Even if the buck was passed to ex-CDF Maharaj, the AG has finally confirmed it was his children and he refused to do that before.
“In public life you put the public interest before your own. But as an officer with the duty to uphold the law particularly, he never admitted it was his children involved. It appears the whole legal and justice system is in crisis, from AG to the CJ.”
Meanwhile, UNC MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh yesterday called on the remaining members of the Education Facilities Company Limited (EFCL) board to follow chairman Arnold Piggott’s example and resign.
Gopeesingh said Piggott’s resignation followed serious allegations of corruption, bid rigging, abuse of office, “squander-mania” and worker victimisation at EFCL.
“The directors therefore have no moral authority to continue clinging to public office following these extensive shocking revelations. To preserve the integrity of the audits and EFCL’s viability, the directors must immediately step down or be fired.”
Gopeesingh said audit findings must be sent to the Fraud Squad for independent enquiry. He added that Education Ministers Anthony Garcia and Lovell Francis, to whom EFCL’s Board reports, must also be held responsible for alleged wrongdoing under their watch.
