By SEAN DOUGLAS Tuesday, March 9 2010

LEADER of the Opposition, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has filed in Parliament a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Patrick Manning for defending Udecott head, Calder Hart, who resigned his post as executive chairman and left Trinidad, last Saturday.

She told Newsday she hopes it is heard in the Lower House by month-end.

Media houses last Thursday revealed that Hart’s wife, Sherrine Hart, has a brother and brother- in-law who are former directors of CH Development, now Sunway Caribbean Construction Ltd, which is earning $820 million to build the Legal Affairs tower, in a likely breach of the Integrity in Public Life Act. Persad-Bissessar yesterday sought the nod of House of Representatives Speaker, Barry Sinanan, for her private motion to be heard within 12 days.

It said, “The motion expresses the lack of confidence held by the population in the Prime Minister arising from the questionable conduct of the Prime Minister in a number of controversial matters. The latest of these is Mr Manning’s ‘Hart’ failure’.”

Persad-Bissessar told Newsday she did not anticipate any problem for it to get Sinanan’s nod.

The motion said documents show family ties between Calder Hart and CH Development, the company that was given contracts worth several hundreds of millions of dollars. “That the Prime Minister over the years, and as recently as one month ago, had stoutly defended the integrity of Calder Hart, and his relationship with him, makes the Prime Minister culpable (for) dubious dealings which have now been placed in the public domain.”

The motion also says Hart’s resignation means all of Udecott’s multi-million dollar projects must now be placed on hold while there is a forensic investigation into Udecott and Hart, although noting such action could hurt the economy. “Prime Minister Patrick Manning must be held accountable for his actions.” The motion recalled that Manning had fired former trade minister, Dr Keith Rowley, simply for daring to question Cabinet’s lack of oversight on Udecott and raising the prospects of corrupt practices at Udecott through the irregular procedures and flagrant violation of ethics by Mr Hart. “The population is reeling from the many questions which now hang over the head of the Prime Minister whose close relationship with Calder Hart, his lavish praise for his work, and his shameful defence of all charges against the former chairman — even when so much evidence became known during the Uff Commission of Inquiry — all combine to making Patrick Manning answerable to the people.”

Persad-Bissessar, asked about the Government’s majority in the House, said the motion would expose the issue to the general public, whom she was sensing had lost faith in Manning.

Last Friday, Persad-Bissessar fell short in her bid for a motion of a definite matter of urgent public importance calling for Hart’s firing, although amid last week’s public outcry, he then resigned on Saturday.