Another Brutal Police Beating at Tobago Police Station

IN PAIN: Samuel Maraj of Whim, Tobago,
 and Chervon Davidson of Arouca yesterday.
 —Photo: ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

Samuel Maraj of Whim, Tobago, and Chervon Davidson of Arouca visited the Express office in Tobago yesterday with the claim of police brutality.

Maraj, 21, and Davidson, along with Junior Melville, were held on April 10 in connection with the disappearance of Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) leader Ashworth Jack’s loaded nine-millimetre pistol and cash.

Maraj and Davidson were released on Thursday, while 17-year-old Melville was released on Friday.

Melville and Maraj have accused the police of beating them while in custody. Melville’s story appeared the Express on April 13.

Maraj said he is in constant pain.

Both hands are in casts and his left foot is bandaged. He said he was beaten by three officers with baseball bats, torchlights and batons. Maraj said he was also slapped repeatedly by approximately five officers.

“Is a big strong man, over 8 feet, with size about 300 pounds, about 275 pounds he could be weighing, with all he might he held up my foot in the air and start to beat me on this foot at Scarborough CID,” Maraj said.

Maraj said the beatings continued into the wee hours of Thursday morning. He said he was beaten on his chest, while other officers kicked him on his head.

“This hand fracture. This hand bust open. It have stitches here. They beat me brutally on my chest,” he said.

He feared he would die.

“They drag me. They put me to lie down. I was bleeding all over the ground,” Maraj said.

He said he is traumatised.

After his release and while seeking medical attention at the Scarborough General Hospital, he claims he saw one of the officers who had beaten him.

“I saw the officer when I was leaving the hospital and he say ‘Indian, we get to realise that is not you’,” he said.

Davidson, who was also suspected in the break-in at Jack’s house, said he was not beaten by officers, but heard the screams of his friends while in custody.

He said officers ordered him to clean up the bloodstains on the walls, ground and van before he could be released.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Tobago) Heflin George told the Express while the pistol and cash remain missing, no reports of police brutality have been brought to his attention.

Source:Trinidadexpress

17 Year Old Beaten by Police

THREE men who were held and questioned in connection with the theft of Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) leader Ashworth Jack’s loaded 9-millimetre pistol and cash have been released with no charges laid against them.

But 17-year-old Junior Melville, one of the trio held by police since Wednesday, said he was released yesterday only after being beaten by the police.

Melville said he was held around 8 p.m. on Wednesday by three police officers, who accused him of breaking and entering Jack’s house at Mt Grace and stealing his pistol, 15 rounds of ammunition and cash. That is when he claims the beating began.

“And the officer started to beat me, he put the handcuff on my hands and he start to choke me on the ground, he kick me in my face. He take off the handcuff, he take it and hit me in my head,” said Melville.

“They  beat me, they buss my eye, they hit me a gun butt in my eye. You could actually see the  blood on my jersey still remaining there. I just come out of prison,” he added. 

Melville said he asked for food and something to drink but received nothing. And a phone call, which is usually granted to those in custody, was also denied. 

“I ask them for something to eat...they was not feeding me. They was not giving me nothing. I call the police officer, I asked for a phone call, he tell me this is not a hotel. I went and sleep, I wake up...it had some kind of water in a bucket, he throw it on me.”

Still a student at Scarborough Secondary School, Melville said he will never feel the same again about the Police Service as he remains traumatised.

“If they could do this to me, they could do this to anybody else. Even underage people. If you come in there, is the same way they treating you at the Scarborough Police Station and Crown Point.” 

Officers confirmed that no charges were laid against the three men held in connection with the break-in at Jack’s home and enquiries are continuing into the matter.

On the beating accusations by Melville, Assistant Commissioner for Tobago Heflin George said he was only made aware of the matter when the Express contacted him and he would ask Senior Supt Garfield George if a report was made and further investigations will be carried out.

Source:Trinidadexpress

Concrete Proof: Jack Lied About his House

Ashworth Jack Standing by his Ally Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar

He has never admitted it, but the Express has been provided with documents revealing that United National Congress (UNC) financier Super Industrial Services (SIS) provided both material and labour to help build Ashworth Jack's house in Tobago.

Responding to queries in a press release dated December 11, 2012, the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) leader had stated that "the work was done by CJ Construction, a firm owned by my brother (Curtis)".

He added that the two had worked together on his first home at Mt Grace, and also on "this present construction".

Jack had also pointed out in his statement that he and his brother had kept costs down, "as we did a lot of the work ourselves and got 'lend hand' from a number of construction persons with whom we have had a longstanding relationship".

In an interview published on December 9, 2012, Jack was asked outright whether SIS had built his home, but he had dismissed it, saying: "I am not hand-to-mouth. No construction firm from Trinidad built my home for free for me."

At that time, he had also indicated he had been holding down four jobs, one of which he said was with a firm called Phoenix Welding and Fabricating Ltd, where he was a project manager.

Express investigations subsequently revealed the company was a subsidiary of SIS.

For some time now, the acquisition of the land on which the TOP leader has built his house and the subsequent construction of his two-storey house, complete with swimming pool, have been the subject of queries as to how he was able to afford it.

In an interview with the Sunday Express last month Jack said he had planted cucumbers and pumpkin, and the sale of these food items was one of the sources of income to build the house.

Jack has stated the transactions on his house were above board and he has publicly denied it was a "political gift" from party financiers.

The Express has been provided with invoices for materials and work sheets of SIS workers from way back in October 2010—five months after the People's Partnership won the general election in May of that year.

At least one of the documents shows where materials provided for the construction job "were not charged to the job".

Among the items under this arrangement were a backhoe, a fork-lift and a labourer "to fill sand into 14 jumbo bags".

This document was dated Friday, November 19, 2010, labelled "Tobago".

The same document shows an entry dated Monday, November 22, 2010, for a "40 foot trailer and truck to transport fill sand to Port of Spain Port" for a period of "10 hours".

At the bottom of the document is a handwritten note addressed to someone named "Lisa", advising her that "Mr Lalla said Ashworth needs this urgently as they are out of stock". The note went on to instruct: "Make sure and confirm the booking for today."

Krishna Lalla is the general manager of SIS.

At least 11 invoices sent to the Express revealed that a number of items were provided from Point Lisas Industrial Hardware Ltd, of Pacific Avenue, Point Lisas, and billed to SIS to the tune of $45,266.42.

The items included treated lumber, gypsum sheets, construction buckets, PVC pipes, bulk bags and shovels. One invoice, dated 25/11/10 Job Number SI0000100737A, specifically listed the job description as Tobago, and even though the others did not clearly state such, they all bore the same job number.

The work sheets recording the workers' attendance identified several dates in November and December 2010 when the workers were on the job. They also listed the names of six workers along with their worker ID numbers and the check-in and check-out times for work, which were from 7 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

The supervisor for the project was identified in the documents as Tom Khan, who in an interview with the Express last year had referred all queries to SIS's offices at Couva. 

On one of the work sheets dated November 23, 2010, there was a handwritten note addressed to "Mr Lalla", stating, "Please note Balgobin (one of the workers listed on the work sheet) said he is keeping a stock, as Ashworth confirmed with Curtis that more manpower would be coming up next week".

On that same document was a query by Lalla over "high meal vouchers".

The Express contacted Lalla two days ago, but did not get beyond formal introductions, as he quickly hung up the phone when told it was the Express calling.

The Express also tried for a comment from Jack on this new information yesterday before the launch of the University of Trinidad and Tobago campus in Scarborough. His response was: "I have no further comments to make on my house."

Pressed further, he maintained: "Let me make it absolutely clear, my house is built by me."

Already, two Tobagonians—Moses O Thomas and Goslyn Loraine—have written to the Integrity Commission, asking for an investigation into Jack's house and land, especially since he is yet to file his declarations for the years 2010 and 2011, as required under the Integrity in Public Life Act.

The commission has since asked Loraine to provide evidence and he is yet to do so.

The TOP is seeking to unseat the incumbent People's National Movement in Monday's hotly contested Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election to lead Tobago for the next four years.

The TOP controls the two Tobago seats in the Parliament and is seeking to further its political gains with the Central Government.

Jack, who is seeking to become Chief Secretary of the THA, continues to enjoy the support of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who has publicly defended his home, saying that when she was building her own at Phillipine, in which SIS was also involved, she too had come under scrutiny. 

Reproduced from Trinidadexpress

Ashworth Jack's 4 Million Dollar House Referred for Investigation by the Integrity Commission

Ashworth Jack's House 

The controversial issue of the house built by Ashworth Jack, political leader of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP), has for the second time been put in the lap of the Integrity Commission.

And this time around, the commission has taken notice and has asked its director of investigations, Richard Frederick, to discuss the issue and obtain all information and documents in the matter.

The first request to the commission to probe the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Minority Leader's assets by Tobagonian Moses O Thomas was reported by the Express in November last year.

Thomas had in October 2011 made an official query to the commission about the land on which Jack had built his home and a vehicle purported to be owned by Jack.

Thomas, the field liaison officer for the Chief Secretary of the THA, had asked the Integrity Commission to review Jack's declaration of income, assets and liabilities for the years 2001-2008, saying what he saw were "very inconsistent declarations".

Thomas had also asked the commission to probe ownership of a vehicle (Toyota SUV PCR 5066) which he said was not owned by either Jack or his business AJ Rentals.

The commission at that time had dismissed Thomas's request for an investigation, and the commission's chairman, Ken Gordon, had told the Express that Jack would not be investigated unless and until a request came to the commission as an official query.

Dissatisfied with the commission's failure to probe Jack, Moses subsequently called on Gordon to step down. Gordon did not.

Unlike this first outcome, however, fellow Tobagonian Goslyn Loraine has over the past month raised the issue of the acquisition of the land and construction of Jack's house with the registrar of the Integrity Commission, Martin Farrell.

In a letter dated December 18, 2012, Loraine, a political activist and co-ordinator of the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) in Tobago, raised four concerns to determine whether Jack had acquired his property by "fraudulent or corrupt means".

He also raised allegations of "inducements" being used for political favours. Jack had dismissed speculation in an exclusive Sunday Express story last year that his multimillion-dollar house in Hillsborough, Mt St George, was a political "gift" from Trinidad.

The commission, in its response to Loraine, dated January 3, 2013, invited Lorraine to tell all in a meeting with its director of investigations, Frederick.

The letter, signed by Farrell, stated, "In an effort to adequately respond to your requests, the commission invites you to meet with its director, Investigations, Mr Richard Frederick, at 10 a.m on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at the Office of the Integrity Commission."

According to Farrell, "This meeting is intended to obtain from you all information/documents in your possession which may establish the allegations made."

It also pointed to the Integrity in Public Life Act, Chapter 22:01 and to Section 34 A, which "stipulates that the commission may, on receipt of a complaint, reject same if it is not supported by evidence of a probative value".

While it did not outrightly reject Loraine's complaint, the commission sought to give an explanation of what constituted "evidence" and explained that "broadly defined (evidence) is the means from which an inference may logically be drawn as to the existence of a fact".

The commission said it was "anxious to investigate all allegations of corrupt or fraudulent conduct, however, it can only do so when supplied with information upon which a reasonable inference of such conduct can be founded".

The Express contacted Loraine in Tobago, but he indicated he had not yet met with the commission on the issue.

He explained that he needed more time to provide the information and the request for the meeting came at short notice.

"I have received correspondence from the commission and I am to get back to them on the next possible date for a meeting," he said.

Loraine said he was a bit surprised by the commission's request for him to provide documented evidence since the issue of Jack's house was in the public domain.

He said, too, that the meeting was unlikely to take place before next Monday, January 21, when Tobagonians go to the polls to elect a new executive to lead the THA for the next four years.

Jack is seeking to unseat incumbent People's National Movement (PNM) Chief Secretary Orville London.

The third party in the race is the Tobago Platform of Truth (TPT), whose leader is Hochoy Charles.

Reproduced from Trinidadexpress

Jack and the Pumpkin Patch

As TOP leader Ashworth Jack continues with his amazing account of how he sourced funds to finance his four million dollar mansion at Mt. St. George, one is reminded of that well known fairy tale of “Jack and the Beanstalk”. IT SEEMS THAT JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL JACK WHO PLANTED THE MAGIC SEED AND CLIMBED THE BEANSTALK TO FIND THE STACK OF GOLD, THIS MODERN DAY JACK MUST HAVE PLANTED MAGIC PUMPKIN SEEDS AND FOUND HIS POT OF GOLD IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH.

Ashworth Jack cannot expect right-thinking Tobagonians to accept his story that he could have raised at least four million dollars in a single year from planting pumpkin and cucumbers; earnings from what we all know are very modest business enterprises; and payment for services a project manager who has no formal training and limited experience. The arithmetic is just not right. In fact the arithmetic is frighteningly wrong and if it is, all Tobagonians must fear the consequences of an Ashworth Jack in the Chief Secretary’s chair for a four year period.

We must be reminded that the Integrity in Public Life Act is based on the premise that a public figure acquires an asset with funds that are used either through earnings, borrowing or gifts. That is why the Integrity Commission instructs that all public officials must provide information to the Commission on all sums earned, all moneys borrowed and all gifts received. The Commission will be particularly interested in gifts received because the Commission recognizes that when gifts are received by public officials, it could place them in a position where they are obligated to the ‘gift giver’ and might be perceived to return favours, if and when they are in a position to do so. 

The concern which many Tobagonians share is that Ashworth Jack has stated publicly, on many occasions that he built his house “from his pocket”. That eliminates the borrowing option and therefore, if he cannot prove that he funded it from his earnings during that period, then one can reasonably assume that there was “gift giving”. Ashworth Jack will also have to admit that his judgment in this matter is highly questionable. Jack has admitted that he made a down payment on the land more than ten years ago. He has also made contradictory statements about whether he has completed payment for the purchase of the land, but what is irrefutable is that he did not have legal possession of the land during the construction of the house. 

Consequently, it must be asked whether he received Town and Country Planning Permission for the construction of a house, on land which he did not own; he will also have to answer questions on the strategies used to persuade WASA, TTEC and other agencies to provide the residence with relevant utilities.

But perhaps the most troubling aspect of this entire scenario is the timing of the construction. Mr. Jack is attempting to convince the Tobago public that, after not being able to pay for the land over the previous ten year period, his fortunes improved to such an extent after 2010, that he was able to source funding to construct his four million dollar mansion. This has to be placed in the context of Jack’s decision to forge and inextricable bond between his Tobago Organisation of the People and the United National Congress; his unwillingness or inability to criticize the People’s Partnership Government for many of the atrocities inflicted on the citizens of Tobago and the rest of the country; and his pledge to Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar on a political platform that “Tobago is yours”. Should we conclude that Tobago was sold for “a house on a hill”?

During the past week, Ashworth Jack has not helped his cause nor endeared himself to the unbiased, by his sneaky attempt to cast aspersions on the integrity of some PNM Secretaries who have built houses. The Tobago Council is heartened that the Secretaries were able to demonstrate that their houses are being built with funds raised either from their savings or by borrowing. They have also confirmed that all relevant transactions were reported to the Integrity Commission. Their explanations further underscore the preposterous and precarious position in which Ashworth Jack has placed himself and highlights the demand that he has to “fess up” with Tobago’s public, especially at this time when he is aspiring to the highest office in the land.

Ashworth Jack must recognize that this is one issue from which Tobagonians will not be distracted. The stakes are too high. Ashworth Jack must be able to convince Tobagonians that he is not beholden to any one, that he has received gifts from no one and therefore he is under obligation to no one. He has to do this but based on the information he has made available to the public, it is unlikely that he can. However, the Council is convinced that even the most ardent supporter of the Tobago Organisation of the People must be troubled about the credibility of their leader at this time. The rest of Tobago is even more concerned at the frightening implications if the right decision is not made on Election Day.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has said that Tobago will complete the ring of People’s Partnership control. Tobagonians will have the option to decide on January 21 2013. The choice is between a party and a leader whose commitment to the development of Tobago for many decades cannot be questioned and a party whose leader is still unable to prove that he is not beholden to some ‘gift giver’ who will be demanding his ‘pound of flesh’ if he ever assumes control of Tobago.

Tobagonians the choice is clear. The decision is yours.

DO NOT JOIN THE SELLOUT. CHOOSE TOBAGO OR YOU WILL LOSE TOBAGO.

Reproduced from Tobagonews

From Milshirv to Mt. St. George: Who builds on Lands Not Owned?

Rowley in a PNM's meeting at Buccoo took a big bite into the integrity of  leader of the TOP Ashworth Jack.  Jack's response to his mult million dollar mortgage free home has shifted the political conversation from Milshirv to Mt. St. George. Dr. Keith Rowley in his speech indicated that Ashworth Jack has raised more questions than provide answers when it comes to his new home situated on lands which he doesn't yet have a title to. 

Dr. Rowley is right by saying "Nobody in their right mind would build a $4 million house or $2 million house on land that does not belong to you, that you are trying to purchase. You make a small downpayment, you not finish paying for the land, you come into some money, the first thing you (would normally) do is buy the land, then you build the house. But you don't build the house and leave the land unpaid for".

 Further Rowley wasted no time in devouring Jack's reputation by exposing his "irrational" thought processes "And if that is your style, if that is how you make decisions, if that is your thought process— don't pay for the land but build a mansion on it—then you should not be offering yourself to the people of Tobago as Chief Secretary. And then (he is) coming with this Anansi story about how you plant cucumber and pumpkin (to help pay for the house).

Rowley an experience politician pecked the whole night at the Ashworth Jack. Rowley stated that Jack would have talked himself into a difficult situation and the least he can do is provide the name of the Contractor in which he  was collecting this $ 35000. In addition, Rowley then asked if he was declaring this income to the Inland Revenue as an income of $35000 would be taxed by the State.  Furthermore, 12 months multiplied by 35,000 was still far short of the value of the multi-million house Rowley said. Moreover, even if one was to multiply it by 48 months (4 Years) it still would fall hundred of thousands of dollars short of the estimated value. 

"And to make matters worse, he refuses to say who he is working for as a project manager. The least you (Jack) could do as a public official is to answer the question, who are you working for," Rowley said, adding: "Is it that if we find out who he is working for, that opens a new can of worms?

"If the person running for the position of Chief Secretary cannot explain how they afforded to obtain certain assets, can you meaningfully trust this person to manage public millions when they have question marks about their private business where it might interact with their public business?"

I hope for Jack's sake and his aspiration he does have a credible rebuttal to all this, because PNM looks hard bent on stressing this and making the best meal out of this one.