THE EDITOR: The recent imbroglio concerning an indemnity agreement between the Attorney General’s office and Vincent Nelson, KC, exposes the PNM Government’s penchant for secret dealings.

While the details are still murky, what gives any government official the right to make secretive agreements with anyone and use the law as a cover for their deals? Doing so leaves the door wide open to corruption in a host of undercover criminal activities.

Furthermore, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract designed to protect the parties involved, typically meant to protect company secrets when a new employee is hired or when bringing in contractors. But this Government has used it repeatedly in its dealing with foreign companies to cover up the billions of dollars spent on things like purchases of ships, helicopters and airliners, to name a few.

Government entities in the US use competitive bidding in an open process to prevent bid-rigging, where companies collude to raise the price of goods when a request for proposal (RFP) is opened, thereby increasing the price systemwide.

Here in TT, the Government and its agents advertise an RFP, but the system is fashioned in such a way to give the contract to the PNM financiers and cronies, irrespective of the bid price. This can only happen because the Government claims that an NDA prevents it from revealing the price paid.

The solution is to end all NDAs and make all indemnity agreements public. While prosecutors will cry foul, that their hands will be tied to prevent them from prosecuting the “big fish,” it is a lazy copout by the administration and leaves the system open to corruption.

In the current case involving Nelson, he remains untouchable in a jurisdiction where he cannot be extradited.

REX CHOOKOLINGO

rexchook@gmail.com

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