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