OROPOUCHE East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal has expressed concern about money the Government is spending allegedly to target members of the Opposition UNC.
Moonilal raised this concern after statements by the Prime Minister that the police received US$18 million to fight white-collar crime, and by former commissioner of police (CoP) Gary Griffith that he received $35 million to pursue criminal charges against UNC members.
Speaking with reporters at the Debe Hindu Primary School on Thursday, Moonilal said, "All governments in this country are committed to dealing with white-collar crime."
This. he continued. was the basis for the Integrity in Public Life Act and public procurement legislation.
"Absolutely nothing is wrong with this. We have always been committed to fighting white-collar crime."
But the UNC is opposed to political persecution and witch-hunting.
Moonilal was concerned about Griffith's claim that Dr Rowley messaged him for updates on investigations into members of the former UNC-led People's Partnership (PP) coalition government, which was in office from May 24, 2010-September 15, 2015.
"The Prime Minister is speaking and giving certain information which suggests that he is in contact with the police, with law enforcement, in terms of investigations."
Moonilal declared after seven years in office since 2015, the PNM has been unable to lay a single criminal charge against any member of the former PP government..
Moonilal, who was housing minister in the former PP government, cited the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the Estate Management Business Development Corporation (EMBD) as examples of the PNM's claims of PP involvement in corruption.
He believed Rowley's statements about white-collar crime at a PNM virtual meeting in San Fernando on Tuesday were an attempt to distract attention from events which led to the collapse of the Police Service Commission (PSC) last September. This resulted in no order of merit list of CoP nominees being sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.
He reminded reporters that some of the matters Rowley spoke about "have been in the civil court for five-six years."
Referring to documents he had, Moonilal claimed an expenditure of £4,711,792.68 ($40 million) was owed to an unnamed English company between December 31, 2018 and April 30, 2021. An outstanding balance of $1.7 million is allegedly owed to this company.
Moonilal alleged this money was supposed to be used by the police to investigate the Estate Management and Business Developnment Co (EMDB) and the LifeSport scandal.
"It was to be used for nothing else, because they had as their targets Anil Roberts (sport minister when the LifeSport programme was launched) and Roodal Moonilal (former line minister for EMBD)."
He declared, "This is the scam that they have been running here for years. These are the bills. This is shocking when you think that this country doesn't have foreign exchange."
Moonilal claimed the same company had a bill of £340,000 for other corruption inves
