By Andre Bagoo Friday, October 2 2009

The Senate last night passed the Commissions of Inquiry (Validation and Immunity from Proceedings) Bill 2009 with the Government securing the three-fifths majority it sought with votes from Independent benches.

The bill was passed at 10.15 pm, with 23 votes for the legislation and six abstentions from the Opposition senators.

The Senate went into committee stage for a review of amendments to the bill moments after Attorney General John Jeremie fired back at an earlier contribution by Opposition Senator Wade Mark who claimed the Government engaged in a conspiracy to scuttle the inquiry.

Winding up debate on the bill, Jeremie accused Mark of politics one would find at the side of the pavement.

“Mr President, Senator Mark spoke about a conspiracy theory. But for this to work (several things) would have to obtain,” Jeremie said. “(Counsel for the inquiry) Mr Jairam, who is a member of the Inner Bar and a decent man, would have to be in cahoots with the Minister of Works and Transport (Colm Imbert). Somehow they would have had to conspire not to gazette the commission so that the seeds of destruction would have been planted.”

Jeremie also noted that the entire legal team, including Kerwin Garcia, husband of Tertiary Minister Christine Kangaloo, would have had to have been conspiring from different chambers and locations throughout Trinidad and the world.

“They would have all been involved in different parts of the world with different ties with no relationship with the others,” he argued.

“It boggles belief that these persons would have conspired with the Minister of Works to not have the commission gazetted when it was first announced. It is an argument that merely has to be stated for it to be debunked,” Jeremie said.

As for Mark’s queries over the role of former commissioner Israel Khan SC, Jeremie said, “Israel Khan is a decent man, he’s my friend, as is Senator Mark.”

Of Khan, he continued, “(he) is a man who dances to the beat of his own drum. We will all remember the stance he took a few years ago where he sought to advertise his services...He was rocking the boat. He is Israel Khan, everybody knows Israel Khan. He controls himself. When he stepped out of line, he did the honourable thing.”

“(Mark’s) point about Israel Khan is irrelevant. Mr Khan decided that he had had enough after he did a certain act. Yes, Mr (Calder) Hart is challenging that and that has to be tested in the court and it did not invalidate the commission of inquiry.”

Of Mark’s allegation that Imbert’s company Bolt Engineering Limited received Udecott pre-qualification status, Jeremie noted that the company was in Imbert’s wife’s name. Without naming her, Jeremie said she is a citizen of this republic like anyone else who is not in politics.

Jeremie did note that he had had a problem with aspects of Udecott’s court action.

“As a state enterprise I had a real difficulty with Udecott taking action against the President.

“The claim as amended will proceed as a bias claim. The State is out of that. Udecott as a person has taken action against the commissioners. The State is out of that,” he said.

Of Mark generally, Jeremie accused the Opposition Senator of being unproductive.