Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 17/Nov 23:42

Moonilal backs Roberts: Probe Victoria Keyes sale

ENERGY Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal has come out in full support of his Cabinet colleague, Minister in the Ministry of Housing Anil Roberts, as a mounting cross-Caribbean controversy widens between the Trinidad and Tobago government and St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves. The dispute stems from Roberts’ disclosure that three members of the Gonsalves family – his wife Eloise, son Storm and daughter Soleil – bought upscale Housing Development Corporation (HDC) apartments at the Victoria Keyes development in Diego Martin under what he has described as questionable and opaque circumstances. All three – TT citizens – have threatened legal action, accusing Roberts of breaching their constitutional rights. Moonilal, a former housing minister, commended Roberts, saying he has raised legitimate questions that the public deserves answers to. In particular how three relatives of a sitting regional prime minister were able to access high-end state-backed apartments so quickly, and in one case under a rent-to-own arrangement. “We must commend Minister Roberts. No one can explain the process that was used – whether it was auction, random draw or some other system – to ensure transparency and fairness. It is very curious that not one, not two, but three members of Gonzales family, were allocated those superior units in relatively quick time.” The units were all bought under an open-market housing project and Eloise has denied her family received any preferential treatment. Speaking with the Newsday at the Greater San Fernando Chamber mix and mingle at Achievors Banquet Hall on November 15, Moonilal said the issue is especially troubling. This because the HDC, then under a PNM administration, signed off on at least one of the allocations on April 30 – just two days after the PNM’s 2010 election defeat and before Kamla Persad-Bissessar was sworn in as Prime Minister. “That was extremely curious and suspicious and needs deeper investigation.” Moonilal urged substantive Housing Minister David Lee, along with Ministers in his Ministry, Roberts and Philip Alexander, to pursue a full accounting of the allocation process. He said former HDC chairmen Newman George and Noel Garcia, as well as former housing ministers – including current Opposition Leader Penelope Beckles – must answer for how the units were distributed. “As a former housing minister, I raised concerns years ago about allocations at Victoria Keyes outside any fair and transparent process. Those questions remain, and now we need full disclosures.” Moonilal also pushed back against claims by the Gonsalves family that Roberts unlawfully accessed and published their private information. “Under the Freedom of Information Act, all of us – when we were in Opposition – had access to HDC information. That is public information. If they want to go to court, that is their right, but I don’t see any constitutional breach.” Moonilal said the controversy must also be viewed in the context of a decades-long political friendship between the PNM and Gonsalves, one that began when he and the late prime minister Patrick Manning were at university. He referenced Manning’s role in financing a housing project in SVG after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 – a development known today as Manning Village – as well as Gonsalves’ well-documented admiration for the PNM. “There is even a picture of a PNM leader at the St Vincent airport,” Moonilal noted. “Mr Gonsalves has had an uncanny relationship with the PNM over the years and has made comments negative toward the UNC and Mrs Persad-Bissessar. I am hoping he will now explain his family’s position on this matter.” The post Moonilal backs Roberts: Probe Victoria Keyes sale appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.