Wickedness in high places.

This was how Chief Secretary Farley Augustine described an apparent decision by the former PNM-led THA executive council to undertake two rehabilitation projects at a total cost of more than $267 million “without indication of source of funding,” some 13 days before the date of the January 25 THA elections was announced.

Delivering a statement on the THA’s financial status at Thursday’s plenary sitting in the Assembly Legislature, Scarborough, Augustine said investigations into the former administration’s decision on November 2020 “reveal an intriguing story of corruptly wicked financial recklessness by the previous executive.

“Madam Presiding Officer (Abby Taylor), if I look in the Bible to find a contextual definition of what 'wickedness in high places' is, this will be a classic example,” he added.

Augustine first alluded to an executive council minute which, he said, gave the all-clear for a multi-million-dollar road resurfacing programme.

“Executive council minute number 423 of November 4, 2020 – 13 days before the THA was dissolved, 13 days before we pack up shop here to go and fight an election, 13 days when everybody preparing and expecting an election day to fly out of a back pocket – a mere 13 days before that, a corruptly wicked and financially irresponsible and reckless executive met on November 4, 2020 and they agreed that funding be accrued for the implementation of the 2020/2021 road resurfacing programme – aka the first wave of election paving – at an estimated cost of $168, 40, 750 (VAT inclusive) and that the supplemental funding required for the road resurfacing programme in the amount of $168, 40, 750 (VAT inclusive) be identified by the Secretary of Finance and the Economy,” he said.

The Secretary of Finance and the Economy at the time was Joel Jack.

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