Is it any wonder they need $60,000.00 pensions??
French Govt apologises
Wednesday, May 23 2007
The French government apologised to former Legal Affairs Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar after she had reported that she had been robbed in Paris during a visit there in 1999.
Documents obtained by Newsday show that Persad-Bissessar got a letter dated October 14, 1999 from the then French Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Alan Girma who said he was passing on to her correspondence from France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on her report on being robbed in Paris. The correspondence included a signed official letter, written in French, from the ministry’s director for the Americas and the Caribbean, R Vignal, and a copy translated in English. This letter was dated September 28, 1999.
Vignal first expressed “deepest regrets” over the robbery.
“I am really sorry that your visit to Paris was hampered by such an incident,” said Vignal.
The report that Persad-Bissessar, currently Opposition Leader, had been robbed in Paris surfaced in Parliament on Monday when Housing Minister Keith Rowley said the matter should be investigated as
Persad-Bissessar had $35,000 reimbursed to her after she reported that the sum had been stolen.In the letter, Vignal said he had contacted the police to take a report from Persad-Bissessar after she had informed someone referred to as “Mr Bonnet” of her “mishap”. Vignal said the robbery was similar to acts committed by four persons who had been arrested for stealing from visitors to Paris.
“I contacted the police service to request that they take your statement. Moreover, the French police recently arrested four persons in the act of stealing from tourists under identical circumstances. An investigation is underway, and I will not hesitate to keep you informed of any new developments which come to my attention.”
Vignal described the incident as “unfortunate” and hoped that the robbery did not “tarnish” Persad-Bissessar’s impression of Paris.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/politics/print,0,57587.html‘Tell us where money went’
By RIA TAITT Wednesday, May 23 2007
Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley is not daunted by the threat issued by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to take him before the Privileges Committee of Parliament for statements made on Monday.
Rowley had scoffed at the $35,000 paid to Persad-Bissessar in 1999, to compensate her for losses during a robbery.
“I did not create the issue. I merely read from a Cabinet note,” Rowley said. Told that Persad-Bissessar stated that she filed a report with the Paris police, Rowley said, “And the Paris police would produce only what you tell them.
“What I want her to explain to me and to the country now that she is going to the Privileges Committee...the Cabinet note is very interesting...It says that this money was part of her per diem. It was TT $35,250. She must have been away for a very long time to have $35,000 being part of your per diem (daily allowance),” he said.
Rowley said nothing in the documents – the Cabinet note and accompanying statements – stated how the robbery happened.
“All it (the document) says is that two men posed as French police and she was robbed outside a hotel. But how did it happen? How do you move from two men impersonating police, to you losing the money you had in your wallet? Tell us, we want to know because the taxpayer lost $35,000,” he said.
According to the note for Cabinet, Persad-Bissessar who was then Minister of Legal Affairs was in Paris because she was participating in meetings of the National Institute of Industrial Property and the Office of Literary and Artistic Property in Paris, from September 13 to 18. She was then going to a conference in Monaco from September 19 to 21. She was also representing Trinidad and Tobago at the Meetings of the Governing Bodies of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland from September 20 to 29, 1999.
The note states, “The Honourable Minister had converted most of her per diem allowances to cash in order to meet the cost of hotel expenses and meals and ground transportation.
“Outside of her hotel in Paris the Honourable Minister was approached by two persons who were mistaken for but were actually impersonating police officers. The persons proceeded to rob the Minister of cash in the sum of US$3,500 and $3,000francs (TT$35,250).
“Consequently, the Honourable Minister was forced to access personal funds in order to meet expenses relative to her official travel. The theft was reported to the French police...Accordingly the Minister of Legal Affairs recommends and Cabinet is asked to agree that Kamla Persad-Bissessar be refunded by Government, the sum of $35,250 which was lost during an official visit abroad,” he said.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/print,0,57586.html
