0:00:00.806,0:00:02.581 Okay, this morning I'm speaking 0:00:02.581,0:00:05.770 on the question of corruption. 0:00:05.770,0:00:07.930 And corruption is defined 0:00:07.930,0:00:13.666 as the abuse of a position of trust 0:00:13.666,0:00:17.306 for the benefit of yourself -- or, in the case of our context, 0:00:17.306,0:00:19.929 your friends, your family or your financiers. 0:00:19.929,0:00:24.452 Okay? Friends, family and financiers. 0:00:24.452,0:00:28.467 But we need to understand what we understand about corruption, 0:00:28.467,0:00:31.265 and we need to understand that 0:00:31.265,0:00:34.614 we have been miseducated about it, and we have to admit that. 0:00:34.614,0:00:36.171 We have to have the courage to admit that 0:00:36.171,0:00:38.616 to start changing how we deal with it. 0:00:38.616,0:00:41.539 The first thing is that the big myth, number one, 0:00:41.539,0:00:43.910 is that in fact it's not really a crime. 0:00:43.910,0:00:45.700 When we get together with friends and family 0:00:45.700,0:00:47.579 and we discuss crime in our country, 0:00:47.579,0:00:51.172 crime in Belmont or crime in Diego or crime in Marabella, 0:00:51.172,0:00:52.702 nobody's speaking about corruption. 0:00:52.702,0:00:54.252 That's the honest truth. 0:00:54.252,0:00:57.289 When the Commissioner of Police comes on TV to talk about crime, 0:00:57.289,0:00:59.299 he isn't speaking about corruption. 0:00:59.299,0:01:01.615 And we know for sure when the Minister of National Security 0:01:01.615,0:01:05.490 is speaking about crime, he's not talking about corruption either. 0:01:05.490,0:01:08.105 The point I'm making is that it is a crime. 0:01:08.105,0:01:12.955 It is an economic crime, because we're involving the looting of taxpayers' money. 0:01:12.955,0:01:15.723 Public and private corruption is a reality. 0:01:15.723,0:01:17.454 As somebody who comes from the private sector, 0:01:17.454,0:01:19.850 I can tell you there's a massive amount of corruption 0:01:19.850,0:01:22.629 in the private sector that has nothing to do with government. 0:01:22.629,0:01:25.471 The same bribes and backhanders and things that take place under the table, 0:01:25.471,0:01:27.939 it all takes place in the private sector. 0:01:27.939,0:01:31.540 Today, I'm focusing on public sector corruption, 0:01:31.540,0:01:34.675 which the private sector also participates in. 0:01:34.675,0:01:36.971 The second important myth to understand -- 0:01:36.971,0:01:38.705 because we have to destroy these myths, 0:01:38.705,0:01:41.165 dismantle them and destroy them and ridicule them -- 0:01:41.165,0:01:43.111 the second important myth to understand 0:01:43.111,0:01:45.603 is the one that says 0:01:45.603,0:01:48.872 that in fact corruption is only a small problem -- 0:01:48.872,0:01:51.202 if it is a problem, it's only a small problem, 0:01:51.202,0:01:54.896 that in fact it's only a little 10 or 15 percent, 0:01:54.896,0:01:58.787 it's been going on forever, it probably will continue forever, 0:01:58.787,0:02:02.571 and there's no point passing any laws, because there's little we can do about it. 0:02:02.571,0:02:04.931 And I want to demonstrate that that, too, 0:02:04.931,0:02:06.868 is a dangerous myth, very dangerous. 0:02:06.868,0:02:09.289 It's a piece of public mischief. 0:02:09.289,0:02:11.883 And I want to speak a little bit, 0:02:11.883,0:02:14.131 take us back about 30 years. 0:02:14.131,0:02:16.125 We're coming out today from Trinidad and Tobago, 0:02:16.125,0:02:19.323 a resource-rich, small Caribbean country, 0:02:19.323,0:02:24.369 and in the early 1970s we had a massive increase in the country's wealth, 0:02:24.369,0:02:27.862 and that increase was caused by the increase in world oil prices. 0:02:27.862,0:02:30.897 We call them petrodollars. The treasury was bursting with money. 0:02:30.897,0:02:34.585 And it's ironic, because 0:02:34.585,0:02:36.623 we're standing today in the Central Bank. 0:02:36.623,0:02:38.819 You see, history's rich in irony. 0:02:38.819,0:02:40.641 We're standing today in the Central Bank, 0:02:40.641,0:02:44.019 and the Central Bank is responsible for a lot of the things I'm going to be speaking about. 0:02:44.019,0:02:47.344 Okay? We're talking about irresponsibility in public office. 0:02:47.344,0:02:50.092 We're speaking about the fact that across the terrace, 0:02:50.092,0:02:52.131 the next tower is the Ministry of Finance, 0:02:52.131,0:02:53.819 and there's a lot of connection with us today, 0:02:53.819,0:02:56.669 so we're speaking within your temple today. Okay? 0:02:56.669,0:03:01.569 (Applause) 0:03:01.569,0:03:03.811 The first thing I want to talk about is that 0:03:03.811,0:03:07.507 when all of this money flowed into our country about 40 years ago, 0:03:07.507,0:03:09.594 we embarked, the government of the day embarked 0:03:09.594,0:03:11.704 on a series of government-to-government arrangements 0:03:11.704,0:03:13.738 to have rapidly develop the country. 0:03:13.738,0:03:16.004 And some of the largest projects in the country 0:03:16.004,0:03:19.202 were being constructed through government-to-government arrangements 0:03:19.202,0:03:21.018 with some of the leading countries in the world, 0:03:21.018,0:03:23.726 the United States and Britain and France and so on and so on. 0:03:23.726,0:03:26.794 As I said, even this building we're standing in -- that's one of the ironies -- 0:03:26.794,0:03:28.478 this building was part of that series of complexes, 0:03:28.478,0:03:32.586 what they called the Twin Towers. 0:03:32.586,0:03:35.546 It became so outrageous, the whole situation, 0:03:35.546,0:03:38.426 that in fact a commission of inquiry was appointed, 0:03:38.426,0:03:42.429 and it reported in 1982, 30 years ago it reported -- 0:03:42.429,0:03:45.178 the Ballah Report -- 30 years ago, 0:03:45.178,0:03:49.114 and immediately the government-to-government arrangements were stopped. 0:03:49.114,0:03:51.022 The then-Prime Minister went to Parliament 0:03:51.022,0:03:54.219 to give a budget speech, and he said some things that I'll never forget. 0:03:54.219,0:03:56.516 They went right in here. I was a young man at the time. 0:03:56.516,0:03:57.896 It went right into my heart. 0:03:57.896,0:04:02.653 And he said that, in fact — Let me see if this thing works. 0:04:02.653,0:04:05.130 Are we getting a, yeah?— 0:04:05.130,0:04:07.129 That's what he told us. 0:04:07.129,0:04:11.269 He told us that, in fact, 0:04:11.269,0:04:14.191 two out of every three dollars of our petrodollars 0:04:14.191,0:04:16.575 that we spent, the taxpayers' money, 0:04:16.575,0:04:18.659 was wasted or stolen. 0:04:18.659,0:04:22.702 So the 10 or 15 percent is pure mischief. 0:04:22.702,0:04:24.811 As we say, it's a nancy-story. Forget it. 0:04:24.811,0:04:26.506 That's for little children. We are big people, 0:04:26.506,0:04:29.293 and we're trying to deal with what's happening in our society. 0:04:29.293,0:04:31.438 Okay? This is the size of the problem. 0:04:31.438,0:04:34.450 Okay? Two thirds of the money stolen or wasted. 0:04:34.450,0:04:37.892 That was 30 years ago. 1982 was Ballah. 0:04:37.892,0:04:39.951 So what has changed? 0:04:39.951,0:04:41.638 I don't like to bring up embarrassing secrets 0:04:41.638,0:04:44.197 to an international audience, but I have to. 0:04:44.197,0:04:47.710 Four months ago, we suffered a constitutional outrage in this country. 0:04:47.710,0:04:52.608 We call it the Section 34 fiasco, the Section 34 fiasco, 0:04:52.608,0:04:55.254 a suspicious piece of law, and I'm going to say it like it is, 0:04:55.254,0:04:56.609 a suspicious piece of law 0:04:56.609,0:04:58.752 was passed at a suspicious time 0:04:58.752,0:05:00.650 to free some suspects. (Laughter) 0:05:00.650,0:05:07.383 And it was called, those people are called 0:05:07.383,0:05:08.957 the Piarco Airport accused. 0:05:08.957,0:05:11.834 I'm going to have my own lexicon speaking here today. 0:05:11.834,0:05:13.661 They are the Piarco Airport accused. 0:05:13.661,0:05:16.554 It was a constitutional outrage of the first order, 0:05:16.554,0:05:20.610 and I have labeled it the Plot to Pervert Parliament. 0:05:20.610,0:05:23.709 Our highest institution in our country was perverted. 0:05:23.709,0:05:25.682 We are dealing with perverts here 0:05:25.682,0:05:27.404 of an economic and financial nature. 0:05:27.404,0:05:29.253 Do you get how serious this problem is? 0:05:29.253,0:05:31.363 There was massive protest. A lot of us in this room 0:05:31.363,0:05:34.073 took part in the protest in different forms. 0:05:34.073,0:05:36.892 Most importantly, the American embassy complained, 0:05:36.892,0:05:39.379 so Parliament was swiftly reconvened, 0:05:39.379,0:05:41.284 and the law was reversed, it was repealed. 0:05:41.284,0:05:43.231 That's the word lawyers use. It was repealed. 0:05:43.231,0:05:46.348 But the point is 0:05:46.348,0:05:50.043 that Parliament was outwitted in the whole course of events, 0:05:50.043,0:05:52.529 because what really happened is that, 0:05:52.529,0:05:55.603 because of the suspicious passage of that law, 0:05:55.603,0:05:57.924 the law was actually passed into effect 0:05:57.924,0:06:01.182 on the weekend we celebrated our 50th anniversary of independence, 0:06:01.182,0:06:02.742 our jubilee of independence. 0:06:02.742,0:06:04.764 So that is the kind of outrage of the thing. 0:06:04.764,0:06:08.175 It was kind of a nasty way to get maturation, but we got it, 0:06:08.175,0:06:09.862 because we all understood it, 0:06:09.862,0:06:11.620 and for the first time that I could remember, 0:06:11.620,0:06:15.170 there were mass protests against this corruption. 0:06:15.170,0:06:17.361 And that gave me a lot of hope. Okay? 0:06:17.361,0:06:19.224 Those of us who are, sometimes you feel like 0:06:19.224,0:06:22.593 you're a little bit on your own doing some of this work. 0:06:22.593,0:06:26.041 That passage of the law and the repeal of the law 0:06:26.041,0:06:30.017 fortified the case of the Piarco Airport accused. 0:06:30.017,0:06:34.628 So it was one of those really superior double bluff kind of things that took place. 0:06:34.628,0:06:36.524 But what were they accused of? 0:06:36.524,0:06:37.627 What was it that they were accused of? 0:06:37.627,0:06:40.906 I'm being a bit mysterious for those of you out there. What were they accused of? 0:06:40.906,0:06:43.488 We were trying to build, or reconstruct largely, 0:06:43.488,0:06:46.090 an airport that had grown outdated. 0:06:46.090,0:06:49.880 The entire project cost about 1.6 billion dollars, 0:06:49.880,0:06:52.447 Trinidad and Tobago dollars, 0:06:52.447,0:06:55.610 and in fact, we had a lot of bid-rigging 0:06:55.610,0:06:58.797 and suspicious activity, corrupt activity took place. 0:06:58.797,0:07:02.887 And to get an idea of what it consisted of, 0:07:02.887,0:07:05.767 and to put it in context in relationship to this whole 0:07:05.767,0:07:08.200 second myth about it being no big thing, 0:07:08.200,0:07:10.971 we can look at this second slide here. 0:07:10.971,0:07:14.664 And what we have here -- I am not saying so, 0:07:14.664,0:07:19.471 this is the Director of Public Prosecutions in a written statement. He said so. 0:07:19.471,0:07:23.945 And he's telling us that for the $1.6 billion cost of the project, 0:07:23.945,0:07:26.137 one billion dollars has been traced 0:07:26.137,0:07:27.900 to offshore bank accounts. 0:07:27.900,0:07:30.063 One billion dollars of our taxpayers' money 0:07:30.063,0:07:33.461 has been located in offshore bank accounts. 0:07:33.461,0:07:35.574 Being the kind of suspicious person I am, 0:07:35.574,0:07:38.291 I am outraged at that, and I'm going to pause here, 0:07:38.291,0:07:40.787 I'm going to pause now and again and bring in different things. 0:07:40.787,0:07:42.601 I'm going to pause here and bring in something I saw 0:07:42.601,0:07:46.345 in November last year at Wall Street. I was at Zuccotti Park. 0:07:46.345,0:07:50.537 It was autumn. It was cool. It was damp. It was getting dark. 0:07:50.537,0:07:52.470 And I was walking around with the protesters 0:07:52.470,0:07:56.763 looking at the One Wall Street, Occupy Wall Street movement walking around. 0:07:56.763,0:07:59.083 And there was a lady with a sign, a very simple sign, 0:07:59.083,0:08:01.507 a kind of battered-looking blonde lady, 0:08:01.507,0:08:04.330 and the sign was made out of Bristol board, as we say in these parts, 0:08:04.330,0:08:06.322 and it was made with a marker. 0:08:06.322,0:08:08.843 And what it said on that sign hit me right in the center. 0:08:08.843,0:08:13.250 It said, "If you're not outraged, you haven't been paying attention." 0:08:13.250,0:08:16.232 If you're not outraged by all of this, you haven't been paying attention. 0:08:16.232,0:08:20.363 So listen up, because we're getting into even deeper waters. 0:08:20.363,0:08:22.520 My brain started thinking. 0:08:22.520,0:08:25.411 Well, what if -- 0:08:25.411,0:08:28.617 because I'm suspicious like that. I read a lot of spy novels and stuff. 0:08:28.617,0:08:30.295 What if -- (Laughter) 0:08:30.295,0:08:32.819 But to make it in these wrongs, 0:08:32.819,0:08:34.444 you have to read a lot of spy novels 0:08:34.444,0:08:37.011 and follow some of that stuff, right? (Laughter) 0:08:37.011,0:08:41.578 But what if this wasn't the first time? 0:08:41.578,0:08:44.165 What if this is just the first time 0:08:44.165,0:08:46.500 that the so-and-sos had been caught? 0:08:46.500,0:08:51.626 What if it had happened before? How would I find out? 0:08:51.626,0:08:54.116 Now, the previous two examples I gave 0:08:54.116,0:08:58.172 were to do with construction sector corruption, okay? 0:08:58.172,0:09:00.203 And I have the privilege at this time 0:09:00.203,0:09:03.581 to lead the Joint Consultative Council, which is a not-for-profit. 0:09:03.581,0:09:07.178 We're at jcc.org.tt, and we have the -- we are the leaders 0:09:07.178,0:09:10.404 in the struggle to produce a new public procurement system 0:09:10.404,0:09:12.564 about how public money is transacted. 0:09:12.564,0:09:14.769 So those of you interested in finding out more about it, 0:09:14.769,0:09:19.049 or joining us or signing up on any of our petitions, please get involved. 0:09:19.049,0:09:21.308 But I'm going to segue to another thing that relates, 0:09:21.308,0:09:24.084 because one of my private campaigns I've been conducting 0:09:24.084,0:09:26.420 for over three and a half years 0:09:26.420,0:09:28.909 is for transparency and accountability 0:09:28.909,0:09:32.008 around the bailout of CL Financial. 0:09:32.008,0:09:37.009 CL Financial is the Caribbean's largest ever conglomerate, okay? 0:09:37.009,0:09:39.932 And without getting into all of the details, 0:09:39.932,0:09:42.948 it is said to have collapsed — I'm using my words very carefully — 0:09:42.948,0:09:45.775 it's said to have collapsed in January of '09, 0:09:45.775,0:09:49.453 which is just coming up to nearly four years. 0:09:49.453,0:09:52.265 In an unprecedented fit of generosity -- 0:09:52.265,0:09:54.748 and you have to be very suspicious about these people -- 0:09:54.748,0:09:57.379 in an unprecedented — and I'm using that word carefully — 0:09:57.379,0:10:01.263 unprecedented fit of generosity, the government of the day 0:10:01.263,0:10:04.918 signed, made a written commitment, to repay all of the creditors. 0:10:04.918,0:10:07.240 And I can tell you without fear of contradiction 0:10:07.240,0:10:10.422 that hasn't happened anywhere else on the planet. 0:10:10.422,0:10:12.333 Let's understand, because we lack context. 0:10:12.333,0:10:15.338 People are telling us it's just like Wall Street. It's not just like Wall Street. 0:10:15.338,0:10:19.827 Trinidad and Tobago is like a place with different laws of physics or biology or something. 0:10:19.827,0:10:24.571 It's not just like anywhere. (Applause) 0:10:24.571,0:10:29.725 It's not just like anywhere. It's not just like anywhere. 0:10:29.725,0:10:32.556 Here is here, and out there is out there. Okay? 0:10:32.556,0:10:33.886 I'm serious now. 0:10:33.886,0:10:36.869 Listen. They've had bailouts on Wall Street. 0:10:36.869,0:10:38.820 They've had bailouts in London. 0:10:38.820,0:10:40.957 They've had bailouts in Europe. 0:10:40.957,0:10:43.627 In Africa, they've had bailouts. In Nigeria, six of the major 0:10:43.627,0:10:46.192 commercial banks collapsed at the same time as ours, eh? 0:10:46.192,0:10:48.433 It's interesting to parallel how the Nigerian experience has -- 0:10:48.433,0:10:50.823 how they've treated it, and they've treated it 0:10:50.823,0:10:52.694 very well compared to us. 0:10:52.694,0:10:54.626 Nowhere on the planet 0:10:54.626,0:10:57.332 have all the creditors been bailed out 0:10:57.332,0:10:59.624 in excess of what their statutory entitlements were. 0:10:59.624,0:11:03.206 Only here. So what was the reason for the generosity? 0:11:03.206,0:11:06.011 Is our government that generous? And maybe they are. 0:11:06.011,0:11:08.027 Let's look at it. Let's look into it. 0:11:08.027,0:11:10.795 So I started digging and writing and so and so on, 0:11:10.795,0:11:12.607 and that work can be found, my personal work 0:11:12.607,0:11:15.987 can be found at AfraRaymond.com, which is my name. 0:11:15.987,0:11:18.859 It's a not-for-profit blog that I run. 0:11:18.859,0:11:21.383 Not as popular as some of the other people, but there you go. 0:11:21.383,0:11:23.641 (Laughter) 0:11:23.641,0:11:28.130 But the point is that the bitter experience of Section 34, 0:11:28.130,0:11:30.587 that plot to pervert Parliament, that bitter experience 0:11:30.587,0:11:33.673 that took place in August, 0:11:33.673,0:11:36.571 when we were supposed to be celebrating our independence, 0:11:36.571,0:11:41.235 going into September, forced me to check myself 0:11:41.235,0:11:43.294 and recalculate my bearings, 0:11:43.294,0:11:45.516 and to go back into some of the work, some of the stuff I'd written 0:11:45.516,0:11:47.785 and some of the exchanges I'd had with the officials 0:11:47.785,0:11:49.789 to see what was really what. 0:11:49.789,0:11:53.899 As we say in Trinidad and Tobago, who is who and what is what? 0:11:53.899,0:11:55.723 Okay? We want to try to recalculate. 0:11:55.723,0:11:58.147 And I made a Freedom of Information application 0:11:58.147,0:12:02.061 in May this year to the Ministry of Finance. 0:12:02.061,0:12:04.119 The Ministry of Finance is the next tower over. 0:12:04.119,0:12:05.794 This is the other context. 0:12:05.794,0:12:07.870 The Ministry of Finance, we are told, 0:12:07.870,0:12:11.699 is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. 0:12:11.699,0:12:15.003 I'm going to take you through a worked example of whether that's really so. 0:12:15.003,0:12:17.891 The Central Bank in which we stand this morning 0:12:17.891,0:12:22.088 is immune from the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. 0:12:22.088,0:12:23.767 So in fact, you can't ask them anything, 0:12:23.767,0:12:25.460 and they don't have to answer anything. 0:12:25.460,0:12:28.282 That is the law since 1999. 0:12:28.282,0:12:31.858 So I plunged into this struggle, and I asked four questions. 0:12:31.858,0:12:35.547 And I'll relate the questions to you in the short form with the reply, 0:12:35.547,0:12:38.162 so you could understand, as I said, where we are. 0:12:38.162,0:12:39.683 Here is not like anywhere else. 0:12:39.683,0:12:42.661 Question number one: 0:12:42.661,0:12:45.251 I asked to see the accounts of CL Financial, 0:12:45.251,0:12:47.723 and if you can't show me the accounts -- 0:12:47.723,0:12:49.688 the Minister of Finance is making statements, 0:12:49.688,0:12:52.303 passing new laws and giving speeches and so on. 0:12:52.303,0:12:54.594 What are the figures he's relying on? 0:12:54.594,0:12:57.214 It's like that joke: I want whatever he's drinking. 0:12:57.214,0:12:58.813 And they wrote back and said to me, 0:12:58.813,0:13:00.524 well what do you really mean? 0:13:00.524,0:13:02.915 So they hit my question with a question. 0:13:02.915,0:13:06.036 Second point: I want to see 0:13:06.036,0:13:09.735 who are the creditors of the group who have been repaid? 0:13:09.735,0:13:11.739 Let me pause here to point out to you all 0:13:11.739,0:13:15.420 that 24 billion dollars of our money has been spent on this. 0:13:15.420,0:13:17.819 That is about three and a half billion U.S. dollars 0:13:17.819,0:13:21.315 coming out of a small -- we used to be resource-rich -- 0:13:21.315,0:13:23.687 Caribbean country. Okay? 0:13:23.687,0:13:25.235 And I asked the question, 0:13:25.235,0:13:29.381 who was getting that three and a half billion dollars? 0:13:29.381,0:13:31.638 And I want to pause again to bring up context, 0:13:31.638,0:13:35.041 because context helps us to get clarity understanding this thing. 0:13:35.041,0:13:37.611 There's a particular individual who is in the government now. 0:13:37.611,0:13:39.331 The name of the person doesn't matter. 0:13:39.331,0:13:41.883 And that person made a career 0:13:41.883,0:13:44.244 out of using the Freedom of Information Act 0:13:44.244,0:13:46.363 to advance his political cause. 0:13:46.363,0:13:49.606 Okay? His name isn't important. 0:13:49.606,0:13:51.939 I wouldn't dignify it. I'm on a point. 0:13:51.939,0:13:54.359 The point is, that person made a career out of using 0:13:54.359,0:13:57.323 the Freedom of Information Act to advance his cause. 0:13:57.323,0:13:59.637 And the most famous case 0:13:59.637,0:14:02.530 was what we came to call the Secret Scholarship Scandal, 0:14:02.530,0:14:05.419 where in fact there was about 60 million dollars in government money 0:14:05.419,0:14:08.291 that had been dispersed in a series of scholarships, 0:14:08.291,0:14:11.015 and the scholarships hadn't been advertised, and so and so on and so on. 0:14:11.015,0:14:14.006 And he was able to get the court, using that act of Parliament, 0:14:14.006,0:14:15.639 Freedom of Information Act, 0:14:15.639,0:14:17.616 to release the information, 0:14:17.616,0:14:20.981 and I thought that was excellent. 0:14:20.981,0:14:24.147 Fantastic. 0:14:24.147,0:14:26.097 But you see, the question is this: 0:14:26.097,0:14:30.310 If it's right and proper for us to use the Freedom of Information Act 0:14:30.310,0:14:34.040 and to use the court 0:14:34.040,0:14:38.782 to force a disclosure about 60 million dollars in public money, 0:14:38.782,0:14:40.473 it must be right and proper 0:14:40.473,0:14:44.614 for us to force a disclosure about 24 billion dollars. 0:14:44.614,0:14:47.202 You see? But the Ministry of Finance, 0:14:47.202,0:14:48.804 the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, 0:14:48.804,0:14:51.861 wrote me and said to me, that information is exempt too. 0:14:51.861,0:14:54.850 You see? This is what we're dealing with, okay? 0:14:54.850,0:14:56.984 The third thing I will tell you 0:14:56.984,0:14:59.989 is that I also asked 0:14:59.989,0:15:02.985 for the directors of CL Financial, 0:15:02.985,0:15:07.330 whether in fact they were making filings under our Integrity in Public Life Act. 0:15:07.330,0:15:08.948 We have an Integrity in Public Life Act 0:15:08.948,0:15:13.697 as part of our framework supposed to safeguard the nation's interest. 0:15:13.697,0:15:15.985 And public officials are supposed to file 0:15:15.985,0:15:22.450 to say what it is they have in terms of assets and liabilities. 0:15:22.450,0:15:24.865 And of course I've since discovered that they're not filing, 0:15:24.865,0:15:27.744 and in fact the Minister of Finance has not even asked them to file. 0:15:27.744,0:15:32.661 So here we have it. We have a situation where 0:15:32.661,0:15:37.555 the basic safeguards of integrity and accountability 0:15:37.555,0:15:39.548 and transparency have all been discarded. 0:15:39.548,0:15:41.792 I've asked the question in the legal and required fashion. 0:15:41.792,0:15:44.280 It's been ignored. 0:15:44.280,0:15:47.455 The sort of thing that motivated us around Section 34, 0:15:47.455,0:15:50.057 we need to continue to work on that. We can't forget it. 0:15:50.057,0:15:53.655 I have defined this as the single largest expenditure in the country's history. 0:15:53.655,0:15:56.236 It's also the single largest example 0:15:56.236,0:16:01.248 of public corruption according to this equation. 0:16:01.248,0:16:04.217 And this is my reality check. 0:16:04.217,0:16:06.563 Where you have an expenditure of public money 0:16:06.563,0:16:09.518 and it is without accountability 0:16:09.518,0:16:11.158 and it's without transparency, 0:16:11.158,0:16:13.414 it will always be equal to corruption, 0:16:13.414,0:16:16.619 whether you're in Russia or Nigeria or Alaska, 0:16:16.619,0:16:20.819 it will always be equal to corruption, and that is what we are dealing with here. 0:16:20.819,0:16:23.130 I'm going to continue the work 0:16:23.130,0:16:27.476 to press on, to get some resolution 0:16:27.476,0:16:29.186 of those matters at the Ministry of Finance. 0:16:29.186,0:16:31.738 If it is I have to go to court personally, I will do that. 0:16:31.738,0:16:32.926 We will continue to press on. 0:16:32.926,0:16:34.877 We will continue to work within JCC. 0:16:34.877,0:16:37.578 But I want to step back from the Trinidad and Tobago context 0:16:37.578,0:16:39.497 and bring something new to the table 0:16:39.497,0:16:41.323 in terms of an international example. 0:16:41.323,0:16:44.224 We had the journalist [Heather] Brooke speaking 0:16:44.224,0:16:46.541 about her battle against government corruption, 0:16:46.541,0:16:51.978 and she introduced me to this website, Alaveteli.com. 0:16:51.978,0:16:56.648 And Alaveteli.com is a way for us to have an open database 0:16:56.648,0:16:59.427 for Freedom of Information applications, 0:16:59.427,0:17:01.543 and speak with each other. 0:17:01.543,0:17:03.780 I could see what you're applying for. 0:17:03.780,0:17:07.312 You could see what I applied for and what replies I got. 0:17:07.312,0:17:10.248 We can work on it together. We need to build a collective database 0:17:10.248,0:17:13.552 and a collective understanding of where we are to go to the next point. 0:17:13.552,0:17:15.192 We need to increase the consciousness. 0:17:15.192,0:17:19.246 The final thing I want to say is in relation to this one, 0:17:19.246,0:17:21.024 which is a lovely website from India 0:17:21.024,0:17:23.466 called IPaidABribe.com. 0:17:23.466,0:17:25.252 They have international branches, 0:17:25.252,0:17:27.696 and it's important for us to tune into this one. 0:17:27.696,0:17:30.152 IPaidABribe.com is really important, 0:17:30.152,0:17:32.568 a good one to log on to and see. 0:17:32.568,0:17:35.195 I'm going to pause there. I'm going to ask you for your courage. 0:17:35.195,0:17:37.416 Discard the first myth; it is a crime. 0:17:37.416,0:17:39.734 Discard the second myth; it is a big thing. 0:17:39.734,0:17:42.232 It's a huge problem. It's an economic crime. 0:17:42.232,0:17:44.280 And let us continue working together 0:17:44.280,0:17:45.747 to betterment in this situation, 0:17:45.747,0:17:49.557 stability and sustainability in our society. Thank you.