PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Opposition legislator, Keith Scotland has dared Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to remove herself from the protection of Parliament and repeat the allegations she made involving a multi-million-dollar court matter.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar reading out her statement regarding T7TEC in Parliament on Monday (CCMC Photo)Persad-Bissessar told legislators on Monday that a report has been made to the Fraud Squad to investigate the Senior Counsel to determine if criminal charges should be laid for conspiracy to defraud, malfeasance and corruption.
She told Parliament that the matter involved Scotland and his chambers in a legal matter concerning the recovery of nearly TT$2.4 million (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) in unpaid electricity bills owed to the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) by Flavorite Foods Ltd, whose chairman was the former treasurer of the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), Andre Monteil.
Persad-Bissessar said that Scotland and his firm falsely represented that legal action had been pursued against Flavorite when court records showed otherwise. She said as a result, the matter became statute-barred, leading to the loss of millions of dollars owed to taxpayers.
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said she had also instructed Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath to request that T&TEC institute legal proceedings against Scotland and his chambers for fraudulent misrepresentation, professional negligence and breach of contract.
She said she had also directed that consideration be given to filing a formal complaint before the Disciplinary Committee of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago for breaches of the Code of Conduct under the Legal Profession Act.
Persad-Bissessar said T&TEC recently instructed attorneys to file a claim against Flavorite Foods Ltd to recover outstanding electricity arrears totalling $2,392,220.11.
But speaking to reporters, Scotland called on Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, a Senior Counsel, to make her claims against him outside the protection of parliamentary privilege, describing her statements as “very egregious attacks” on his professional character.
Scotland, who has since denied any wrongdoing in the handling of the T&TEC matter said, “The Prime Minister, in the Parliament chamber under the shield of parliamentary privilege, made some very egregious attacks on my professional character.
“The action is not statute-barred because in 2024, the claim on behalf of T&TEC was refiled and we have a stamped request for entry of judgement in default of appearance,” he said, adding that the files were subsequently taken back by the client and what occurred afterwards “is no concern of ours”.
“Under these circumstances, I invite the Prime Minister to make these claims outside of Parliament,” Scotland said.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Dr. Keith Rowley has dismissed a statement made by Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar in Parliament that he, along with his wife and other senior former government ministers were on a T&TEC list that they should not be disconnected for outstanding arrears.
Persad-Bissessar said when the “protected list” came to the attention of the government “we were not satisfied with the explanation as to how this could have happened”.
She said that “protected list, I’m advised, meant that T&TEC must not, should not, disconnect persons who were lucky enough to be on that list, even though they did not pay their bills. That was what the secret protected list was,” she said, listing a number of numbers whom she said had benefitted from the initiative.
But in a statement posted on his Facebook page, Rowley said “I am unaware of being on any list at T&TEC.
“I pay all my electricity bills as and when they become due at properties in Trinidad and Tobago. That holds good for my wife as well. I have never requested nor was offered any protection from T&TEC billing operations.”
He said he was disappointed that instead of “looking after the serious business of managing the country’s affairs , I have already advised you that what we have is a hateful, dictatorial…. who wishes to be feared like her mentor,” a reference to the United States president Donald Trump.
