By Clint Chan Tack Friday, October 23 2009

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Vasant Bharath...

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THE Opposition United National Congress (UNC) will be the first to call for Calder Hart’s reinstatement as Udecott chairman if the Uff Commission of Inquiry finds there is no evidence of wrongdoing by him or by the company.

St Augustine MP Vasant Bharath gave this undertaking as he renewed the UNC’s call for Prime Minister Patrick Manning to fire Udecott’s board of directors.

He made the call during debate on the Validation and Immunity from Proceedings Bill 2009 in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

“We will be the first to call for the reinstatement of Mr Hart and the rest of the board,” Bharath said.

He, however, pointed out that the evidence before the commission did not seem favourable to Udecott.

“The evidence would make Johnny O’Halloran, the high priest of bobol of the PNM, blush with embarrassment. It would make the persons involved in Project Pride and Labidco look like choirboys,” he quipped.

Bharath observed that while Attorney General John Jeremie was “breathing fire and brimstone” about fighting white collar crime, there was a perception that people were using State funds to wreck the inquiry.

Describing the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba as “the mother of all scandals,” Bharath, as he stared across at the Government MPs seated across the aisle from him, declared: “None of them would stand up and say boo to Calder Hart.”

Claiming that Hart was still a Canadian citizen when he was appointed to Udecott’s board in 1994, Bharath was concerned about the amount of power which Hart wields as the chairman of Udecott, Home Mortgage Bank, TT Mortgage Finance Company, National Insurance Board and Nipdec. He added that this was evident from newspaper photos which showed him sitting in the front row of a PNM annual convention in Chaguaramas.

In an unprecedented, ten minute contribution, Mayaro MP Winston “Gypsy” Peters said he was supporting the bill unconditionally because the population has a right to know the facts.

“In this country, we complain about every single thing. I am not here to fight any internal war in the Parliament,” he stated. Peters shared Bharath’s concerns about the number of portfolios which Hart had and the power which came with them.

Responding to a question from the Government benches about what titles he had, Peters grinned and replied: “I am only the Extempo king.”