Tancoo : Imbert ducking responsibility

Colm Imbert is ducking responsibility for the major role he has played in the attack on Auditor General and the millions in taxpayers’ dollars he has already lost on his personal ego trip.  This is the view of MP for Oropouche West, Davendranath Tancoo.

Yesterday, Colm Imbert emerged from his Carnival slumber to issue a release claiming that Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP was being mischievous in blaming him for missing funds and supporting the call for an investigation into his conduct.

A review of the information already in the public domain provides the following indisputable facts:

1. Almost THREE BILLION DOLLARS was announced as MISSING from our national accounts, based on public statements made by himself, Colm Imbert, both in the Parliament and in public. Imbert’s claim, one year later, that the Leader of the Opposition was somehow being mischievous in underscoring this fact, is obtusely obscene. Even worse, this sum of almost THREE BILLION DOLLARS is still missing from the public accounts of Trinidad and Tobago for the financial year 2023.

2. Mr. Imbert’s attempt to limit his role in this fiasco to his inappropriate personal call to the Auditor General is duplicitous, dangerous and openly deceptive. It was Colm Imbert who used Parliamentary cover on several occasions to engage in a vicious attack on the character and integrity of Ms. Jaiwantie Ramdass, the Auditor General of Trinidad and Tobago. He was aided and abetted by the Attorney General who repeated and supported Imbert’s assault.

3. It is Colm Imbert who is on record as pursuing legal action against Ms. Ramdass through the local courts and all the way to the Privy Council where he has lost!

4. The Leader of the Opposition did not call for Imbert’s role in this multi-billion dollar fiasco. It is a matter of public record that at the time of unanimously dismissing an appeal brought by Imbert, it was Lady Simler, one of the Privy Council’s five-member panel in London, who queried why Imbert’s role in the fiasco was not investigated. Mrs. Persad-Bissessar simply echoed the call, nothing more.

5. Imbert’s media release yesterday neglected to mention the fact that he (Imbert) was forced to drop his own case against the Auditor General, because it lacked legal merit and had no hope of success in the courts. Instead, Imbert seeks to obfuscate the issue with an irrelevant explanation of budgeting process, completely unrelated to the fact that to date, billions are still missing from the accounts of the country, as a result of which, the audited financials for 2023 remain incomplete.

6. Colm Imbert is the Minister of Finance with the specific and direct responsibility for the accounts of Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, it is he who must receive the audited accounts from the Auditor General and puts them on public record via the Parliament. He is not a mere signatory as he is desperately seeking to understate his role as. To downplay such an important function is cowardly and deceptive.

7. Imbert’s attempt to once more throw unnamed public servants ‘under the bus’ is yet another attempt to cover up his now publicized role in this fiasco.

8. But this misconduct on the Government’s part has not been free. What Imbert needs to tell the country is:

a. What legal advice did he rely on in furtherance of his actions to attack the Auditor General? 

b. Who were/are the lawyers providing advice on this matter?

c. How were they hired?  

d. How much were they paid and how much is outstanding? 

e. What is the estimated overall cost to the taxpayer of this abuse of office against the Auditor General; and

f. How much of this cost will be borne by the person who made the decision (Colm Imbert) to undertake this attack against the Auditor General?

9. The silence of the Prime Minister in this fiasco involving the national accounts for an entire year despite having expressed concern a year ago, is also a fact that the nation needs to pay attention to. In fact, despite this and several other instances in which Imbert has lost legal matters for decisions he has taken, and which have cost taxpayers millions of dollars to pay PNM-favored lawyers and costs, the PNM continues to endorse Imbert. In any other country, such conduct would have rendered such an individual unacceptable to be a Minister in Government.

10. The country’s 2024 accounts cannot be completely settled until the 2023 accounts have been finalized and the PNM seems to have no interest in doing so. This constitutes an absolute failure as Minister of Finance. After one year, we are no closer to resolving this sordid matter and holding the Minister responsible accountable for his actions. By returning Imbert as their chosen candidate, despite these matters over his head, the PNM continues to demonstrate its disregard for the welfare of the citizens of this country and its disdain for transparency and accountability.