Thursday, June 25th, 2009 |
There are three things that worried me this week when it comes to the crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago. If you are anything like me it’s very difficult to be bothered by the incidents covered in the news anymore. Call it being desensitized if you will, but grizzly murders don’t shock me anymore. Surprisingly, it wasn’t even Tecia Henry’s murder that bothered me so much, heinous as it was.
The first thing was the statement made by Patrick Manning at the PNM convention following Tecia Henry’s murder saying of the murder, “I know all of you all know the facts. Ent you know? Don’t take it at face value, that is all I would say”. In the same story Manning expresses his sympathy for President George Maxwell Richards as he noted the difficulty President Richards is experiencing in appointing a new Integrity Commission, yet not one ounce of that sympathy finds its way towards the family of Tecia Henry. A letter to the editor of the Trinidad Express written by a Dr. Steve Smith says it best.:
After witnessing the Prime Minister’s “performance” specifically with respect to the death of Tecia Henry at the hands of some two-legged monster, I find myself not only uncontrollably outraged but truly afflicted by the frustration and helplessness of knowing that this mob ruler cannot be immediately and summarily fired for such monstrous and selfish irresponsibility!
Selfish because in unjustly slandering Tecia’s mother and raising doubts about her credibility, he has simultaneously dealt a mortal blow to our collective social conscience. And we continue to wonder how we have become so heartless and callous a people!
In true PNM style, he throws out a piece of mauvais commérage and mob talk, clearly intended to compromise the reputation of the child’s parents and in so doing, attempts not only to vindicate the child’s abominable murder, but to simultaneously and with an ostentation that truly rivals the sickening display by Pontius Pilate, to wash the blood off his own hands and those of his incompetent and equally culpable Cabinet.
Rather than offer sympathy, the malignant head of this callous organisation in one fell swoop has become judge, jury and executioner!
He has abused his authority and the information asymmetry that his job as Chairman of the National Security Council affords him, and for the sake of his lust for power, has sacrificed the demands of natural justice.
Dr Steve Smith
via e-mail
Nuff said.
The second thing that got to me was Martin Joseph’s disclosure that the evidence rooms of the Trinidad and Tobago police service have become a free-for-all for corrupt members of the TTPS. If they replaced the evidence room door with a revolving door I don’t think they could make the perversion of justice any more efficient. Just look at the grocery list:
- 22 foil packets possibly containing cocaine.
- One 9mm pistol and magazine
- Six Sig Sauer firearms, ammunition
- A 16-gauge shotgun
- An air rifle
- Six bread pans
- One gold Almera vehicle
Something makes me think that this list of missing items is only what they have found to be missing so far. The real list could be much longer. Not only will suspects go free because of missing evidence, but all of these seized items will find their way back on the nations streets.
The final thing that has bothered me, were the details surrounding the murder of Camille Daniel yesterday. For bandits to shoot a woman on the compound of the West End Police Station without any fear or apprehension tells me something. There are people in our country who wouldn’t litter on a lonely street in the middle of the night just because it is the wrong thing to do. And then there are people who would take a gun (sans silencer) and shoot a woman in the back – all on the compound of a police station of all places, and will go home and sleep the sleep of the just.
So when you mix callous politicians, corrupt police and hardened criminals, what do you get? And this is the reason why I’m worried. It seems as if we are in some deep trouble here. I think we’d better settle down and get comfortable because this has “long haul” written all over it. The way things are going now, things will get a lot worse before they get better.
Posted in Corruption, Crime, PNM, Politics | 13 Comments »
Friday, March 16th, 2007 |
The Daily Mail reports that daddy’s dearest aka Daryan Warner was secretly fined almost US $1M by FIFA (of which $250,000 had been paid) which represents the profit he would have made on the sale of 5,400 World Cup tickets for England, Mexico and Japan games over the course of last year’s tournament.
Last September the Daily Mail’s Andrew Jennings (Warner’s nemesis) revealed that Warner was being investigated for suspected shady dealings concerning World Cup tickets. Last December FIFA announced that they had cleared Jack Warner of all wrongdoing saying:
“It could not be evidenced that Mr Jack Warner had knowledge of the resale of these tickets at a higher price.
“The resale is certainly forbidden, but the person who did the reselling is not subject to the FIFA jurisdiction, because it is the son of Jack Warner.”
FIFA did recommend however that Jack Warner be scolded and reprimanded which Warner took as vindication.
Jennings says now that Warner was not only reprimanded, but been secretly fined during last December’s executive committee meeting and that FIFA stipulated that the $992,652US be donated to the charity SOS Children’s Villages. Jennings added that Daryan Warner’s company Simpaul Travel has been banned from dealing in tickets. The secret deadline for full payment of the fine is on March 22, but Jennings suggests that there won’t be any further action if Warner decides not to pay since Jack Warner controls 35 crucial votes that will ensure Sepp Blatter gets a third term.
Of course these are all allegations made by Andrew Jennings who seems at times to have an axe to grind with Warner. You can see the full stories here and here (including “secret reports that FIFA suppressed”).
Posted in Corruption, Football, Sports | 2 Comments »
Friday, December 8th, 2006 |
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| Jack Warner |
On Wednesday Jack Warner was cleared by FIFA. In September word got to FIFA that Jack had been a bad boy seeing that tickets that he owned were sold from Simpaul Travel (a company owned by the Warner family) for 400 times their face value. One reports alleges that he and son Daryan made a profit of at least £500,000 on 5,400 tickets for England, Mexico and Japan matches. Having had his name being shown in a bad light, Warner referred himself to FIFA’s ethics committee asking for guidance on whether he was guilty of a conflict of interest.
On Wednesday FIFA cleared Warner and recommended that no action be taken against him for the sale.
Marcel Mathier, who headed the committee’s examination, said there was no evidence that Warner infringed FIFA rules during the 2006 tournament.
“It could not be evidenced that Mr Jack Warner had knowledge of the resale of these tickets at a higher price,” Mathier said.
“The resale is certainly forbidden, but the person who did the reselling is not subject to the Fifa jurisdiction, because it is the son of Jack Warner.”
Mathier said Fifa was unable to sanction Warner’s son Daryan because he was not directly employed by FIFA.
Mathier did recommended however that Warner be scolded.
Well that’s not only a technicality, but also a giant loophole that FIFA needs to mend. If it were that Jack Warner had directed his son to sell the tickets it would be near impossible for any proof to be collected short of bugging phones and sitting in on quiet time with dear old dad.
Jack Warner being cleared on these charges not only highlights FIFA’s condemnations as being capricious,( see Ismail Bhamjee story), but shows that there are loopholes through which tickets could scalped.
So what’s stopping any other member of FIFA from selling tickets on the black market through family members whose wheelings and dealings they have “no knowledge of”?
FIFA president Sepp Blatter declared the matter now closed and stated,
“The executive committee have expressed their disapproval over the conduct of Mr Warner. This disapproval of the conduct of the vice-president draws his attention to the fact that he should be more prudent and cautious when it comes to ticketing and should also oversee the activities of his son a little more.”
Of course Jack Warner talking like a man who didn’t just dodge a bullet said:
I have been vindicated today by the Fifa Executive Committee as I had always expected for, as I have said from the inception, that I had committed no offence,” he said.
“I am happy that my record-making 24 consecutive years in the Fifa Executive Committee today remains unblemished.
“I know that, especially in my country, there will be those who will be disappointed with the results of the Fifa investigation and its decision and will no doubt make other attempts to tarnish my character and good name.
“This is indeed very unfortunate but I promise to be forever vigilant in the struggle against personal, vindictive and political attacks against me being confident that, in the end, good shall always over come evil.
“I wish to thank all those persons and organizations who, over the past months, have kept faith in my integrity and I refer here especially to my family, my staff, my friends both at home and abroad and to my political party the United National Congress,”
In my book an acquital due to a lack of evidence is hardly a “vindication”. And his “24 consecutive years in the Fifa Executive” is hardly “unblemished”. You might as well suggest that Abu Bakr is a good man.
And as easy as that Warner and his spawn have made a cool £500,000 thanks to the giant loophole that was begging to be exploited. Although it was called illegal, inappropriate (and a whole host of other opposites) there’s no amends, there’s no giving the money back, there’s no formal apology. But you go to Hilo and tief a bread and see what happen to you. See if you’ll be let off with a scolding.
Posted in Corruption, Football, Politics, Sports | 14 Comments »
