Trini Post

Information Minister Neil Parsanlal says no new powers are being granted to the President under the Proceeds of Crime Bill 2009. Parsanlal said this yesterday in his contribution to the debate on the legislation in Parliament. He was responding to an earlier claim by Princes Town North MP Subhas Panday who said too much power was being granted to the President in the bill. Panday was referring to a provision which gave the Head of State the power to pardon someone guilty of money laundering and to return illicit assets confiscated by the State.

Parsanlal said the Presidential powers of pardon were not new. He said Panday’s claim represented “a personal attack and singular attack on the incumbent President.” He later slammed the Opposition, saying it had no moral authority to comment on the matter because of the “conduct” of its leader Basdeo Panday. Parsanlal’s criticism of Panday later sparked a heated exchange of words between the two, with Panday threatening to tell the nation about certain matters about Parsanlal on Mt St Benedict. “I can tell you what happened up on the mount, why you were not ordained as a priest, so you leave me alone,” Panday shouted across the floor. House Speaker Barendra Sinanan then asked MPs to refrain from provoking each other.

But the heated exchanges did not immediately subside. Parsanlal countered: “Mr Speaker, I have been raised in a house that says one must have pity on the afflicted, the conflicted and the convicted.” But even before he could complete that statement, Panday shouted: “I know what you could raise.” Panday later had to apologise on two occasions for his conduct in the House.
Parsanlal said one of the major objectives of the bill was to deal with the crime of money laundering in T&T. He later appealed to the Opposition to lend its support to the legislation.

Gopeesingh Speaks
Opposition support for the new crime bill did not appear to be forthcoming, as Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh said there was no evidence to show that passage of the bill would result in effectively dealing with the offence of money laundering. He said the Government had failed miserably in the fight against crime. He renewed his call for National Security Minister Martin Joseph to resign over the crime situation in the country.

By: Guardian

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For the second time in their controversial political relationship, Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday yesterday stripped UNC MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj of the UNC’s lead spokesman position in the Parliament. After a group led by Maharaj and UNC deputy leader Jack Warner were involved in a fracas outside UNC’s Rienzi Complex office two Sundays ago, Panday moved to bring Maharaj to heel—stripping him of the portfolio of Opposition chief whip which Maharaj had held since the start of the term in 2007.

Panday appointed UNC Caroni Central MP Dr Hamza Rafeeq to replace Maharaj as chief whip. It was a case of deja vu for Maharaj who was stripped of the post of Leader of Government Business in the UNC administration of 2001 after Maharaj fell out with Panday and was fired as attorney general. In 2001, Panday replaced Maharaj as attorney general with UNC MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar and placed then-MP Ganga Singh in the post of Leader of Government Business.

Commenting yesterday on the rift with the Maharaj/Warner faction and the 2009 rounds of “stripping,” Panday declared: “This party must be disciplined if it is to be strong enough to remove the PNM Government—that is the only way.” Panday confirmed that he had communicated with Deputy Speaker Pennelope Beckles on Maharaj’s removal and Rafeeq’s appointment. He said he informed Tabaquite MP Maharaj of the development by letter. Asked if Maharaj, Warner and others would be expelled or suspended for the recent fracas at Rienzi Complex, Panday said those who defied rules can be brought before a disciplinary team who will “decide their fate.”

However, Maharaj who was brought back into the UNC by Panday for the 2007 general election, said of his “new” position yesterday: “This (removal) was not unexpected. As I said last week—when we had anticipated it—we’ll use the backbench as the front bench to fight for the public. The party needs me more now. I’m not leaving UNC. “But it’s the first time in the political history of the Commonwealth that a chief whip was dismissed for a second time by the same person whom he served as prime minister and as opposition leader,” he said. “But I hold no acrimony and I go to Parliament’s backbench in love and peace.”

By:  GAIL ALEXANDER of Guardian

Read full Guardian Article.

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Government should ask the other countries participating in the Summit of Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting for help in “sponsoring” these conferences or scrap them altogether.

Opposition leader Basdeo Panday redirected his guns and attacked the PNM’s new draft constitution on Monday night, even as he warned that nobody will destroy the UNC except over his dead body. His address pacified a crowd who had gathered outside the meeting upon hearing that Panday intended to deal with dissidents within his own party.

But as he took to the podium wearing a brilliant yellow polo shirt, Panday warned that the UNC will continue to live on.
He said a new threat towards democracy had emerged when Prime Minister Patrick Manning laid a draft proposal for a new constitution, which would make him Executive President. As a result Panday said he planned to speak to COP leader Winston Dookeran regarding the issue.

“The Prime Minister laid a draft proposal for the new constitution. That fact will determine how I will use my time on this Monday night forum for the next four months,” Panday said.
He added, “I have no intention of discussing the internal affairs of this party in public because I regard that as an act of gross indiscipline.”

As the crowd fell silent, Panday said, “I only want to say that this party this year will be 20 years old, and it took a lot of blood, a lot of sweat and a lot of tears of you and me and all of us to build this party and to carry it where it is. And nobody will destroy this party whether from the inside or the outside, except over our dead bodies.”

Panday said he had not met with Dookeran to discuss crime, but he planned to join forces over the draft constitution. “I had seen in the papers sometime that the leader of the ‘corpse,’ Dookeran, had said he wanted to discuss crime. I have received no communication with regards to that. But I propose that when I go to my executive on Wednesday I will ask them to give me the authority to communicate with Dookeran to meet to discuss the issue of the constitution,” Panday said. Also speaking at the meeting were former health Minister Hamza Rafeeq, Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath and Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal.

By: RADHICA SOOKRAJ  of Guardian