POINTING out that the absence of campaign financing regulations has led to a culture of kickbacks and corruption, Justice Frank Seepersad called on the business sector to become vocal advocates for campaign finance reform.
Addressing the San Fernando Business Association (SFBA) dinner and awards function at the City Auditorium on Saturday, Seepersad said a limit must be placed on the influence of moneyed interest in the nation’s politics and a cap on the award of contractors to financiers, as the resources of the State and taxpayers money do not belong to any political party.
He said there was some progress with the enactment of procurement legislation and appointment of the procurement board but proper regulatory framework must be prioritised, and election campaign finance reform effected as a matter of urgency.
“In this society, many continue to abandon principled positions to achieve their desired objective, and far too often, well-intentioned, and upstanding citizens are torn between the pursuit of a principled path or one which requires them to do that which is expedient but wrong.
“The time has come for us to effect meaningful change, we must no longer facilitate or tolerate the paying of an incentive to a customs official to expedite the clearance of a container or to a planning division, city or regional corporation member to approve a building plan.
“The unjustified inflation of contract prices to cater for kickbacks must cease, and contributions to electoral campaigns which are premised upon the clear understanding that the support comes with the expectation of favourable treatment, cannot be condoned.”
He said every small, medium, or large business owner should adopt a firm no-tolerance approach to unlawful conduct and corruption in all its manifestations. He advanced that everyone must be prepared to report and assist in prosecuting wrongdoers at every level.
He shared with SFBA president Daphne Bartlett and guest, San Fernando mayor Robert Parris, the summary of a matter which the Board of the Privy Council recently determined, in the matter of Real Time Systems Limited vs Renraw Investments Limited and others.
As the trial judge, Seepersad said he held that the sum of $1. 5 million, which the claimant paid to the defendant to assist in financing an electoral campaign, was a loan and not a gift.
He explained in that matter, that the defendant, through its principal agent, “boldly and brazenly advanced that the money was paid on the premise that if the election was won, valuable contracts would be awarded to the claimant as a form of gratitude.”
“The defendant further asserted that after his party's success at the polls, the claimant was handsomely rewarded and received multi-million-dollar contracts from the State.
“I found that this articulated arrangement was intolerable and offensive,” Seepersad said, recalling his statement then that money advanced to fund elections has for far too long played a central and dominant role in this Republic’s politics.
He said that the veil o
