Padarath: Gonzales Asleep at the Wheel, Must Break His Silence on Agard’s Claims

Princes Town MP, Barry Padarath is calling on Minister of Public Utilities, Marvin Gonzales to break his silence on the claims made by former TSTT CEO, Lisa Agard that he is asleep at the wheel.

Padarath who brought the motion to send Public Utilities Minister, Marvin Gonzales to the Privileges Committee for misleading the Parliament on the TSTT cyberattack said he was deeply disturbed by the claims that the Minister was provided with updated information that there was indeed a breach of citizens data at the time he was answering questions in the Parliament posed by the Opposition. In an interview with CNC3 last evening, Agard claimed that the Minister quoted from a correspondence dated October 30th when he spoke in the Parliament on November 1st, despite the fact that the Minister had updated information in his possession that corrected the contents of the October 30th correspondence.

The Princes Town MP and the Opposition Shadow Minister of Public Utilities indicated that there are now several questions that have arisen in the public domain that both the Minister and the board of TSTT needs to answer.

Padarath said the following questions must be answered by the Minister with urgency.

1. Is it true that the Minister read the wrong information in the Parliament on November 1st despite having in his possession updated accurate information as stated by former TSTT CEO Lisa Agard?

2. Did the board of TSTT move promptly to advise the Minister that he needed to correct the public record expeditiously seeing that it was their duty to swiftly advise the Minister of updated information?

3. Why did the Minister choose not to correct the information in the public domain despite knowing it was inaccurate and instead throw the heat on TSTT’s management?

4. Was the Minister aware that the Office of the CEO was instructed by the board that they were to make no Public Statements on the cyber attack?

5. Did the board consult with the Minister on the firing of the CEO and CFO?

6. What is the relationship between the current Acting CEO and the Minister?

7. Is it true that the current Acting CEO was placed into the position while he was on probation in another position in the organization?

Padarath stated that these were just a few questions on the tip of the iceberg that needed to be answered in this entire controversy.

The Princes Town MP further stated that he was paying close attention to the developments of the Joint Select Committee dealing with the cyber attack and was hopeful that in the coming days ahead both Agard and Ramnarine will be given an opportunity to appear before the committee to tell the country the truth about the Minister’s lies and laziness in addressing this situation.

Padarath also indicated that in light of Agard’s revelation, the Speaker of the House of Representatives may have to review and revoke her decision not to haul Gonzales before the Privileges Committee, instead Padarath vowed to bring another motion against the Minister.