The Public Administration Minister held a media conference on Monday about office space at Park Court which cost taxpayers $55 million but was not occupied for the past three years
Minister Allyson West says the owners of the building are not PNM financiers.
The Minister also said there was no issue of corruption in the matter as she responded to concerns raised by a former president of the Joint Consultative Council.
00:00 On Monday, Public Administration Minister Alison West responded to a letter to the editor published in the Express on Sunday, October 29th,
00:09 written by former President of the Joint Consultative Council, Afra Raymond,
00:14 about the state's rental for three years of unoccupied space at Park Court for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions,
00:22 an arrangement the government recently cancelled.
00:25 Mr. Raymond's letter was titled "$55 Million Fiasco, Bring in the Fraud Squad."
00:30 Our information in respect of property rentals in particular is even more readily accessible now that we have digitalized the records
00:40 and launched the property and real estate portal.
00:43 So I would urge you, if you have any concerns, to reach out to us to verify your "facts" before you start throwing around words like fraud.
00:54 Mr. Raymond wrote that indeed it is quite clear to him that "flagrant corruption or something very closely resembling that was in effect in this matter."
01:05 The rent that was being paid was $500,000 a month rather than the $600,000 a month quoted by Mr. Raymond, giving rise to a square footage price of $11.55,
01:24 as opposed to the $26 per square foot quoted by Mr. Raymond.
01:30 So every one of his facts on which he bases his conclusion that there was corruption in this process is incorrect. Each fact is incorrect.
01:42 The Public Administration Minister explained,
01:45 In respect of the Parkour building, we did approach, as we always do, the Commissioner of Valuations, and we received a value in respect of the space we were to occupy equal to $551,000 per month.
02:01 And as I will remind you, what we actually paid for that space was $500,000 per month.
02:08 Minister West also responded to another concern that she said is "anything close to the truth."
02:15 Another allegation that has been thrown at us in respect of that building is that the reason we are willing to pay higher than market, it is alleged, for the property in question is because the owners of the property are PNM Party financiers.
02:34 The owner of the building is a company called Parkour Ltd. and the directors of that company are Joseph Azar, Andrew Lacase, and Jeff LeBlanc, none of whom are party financers.
02:51 DPP Roger Gaspard refused to move his staff from their present offices in downtown Port of Spain into the offices at Parkourt in uptown Port of Spain, citing security concerns identified in a special branch report.
03:04 During a media conference last week, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley said money was spent by the government to strengthen the security of the office spaces at Parkourt, and it was radically wrong that after $55 million had been spent, they remained unoccupied by the DPP's office.
03:22 Because the property and real estate unit in the past has handed over the building and walked away, we have not generally been alerted to the fact that some state agencies do not move in as expeditiously as they should.
03:39 Now that we are more aware of that, as I indicated, we are seeking to restructure the unit to have the resources to allow us to monitor what is happening to reduce the waste of state resources.
03:52 Minister West said the property and real estate division of the Public Administration Ministry has, in recent times, begun to negotiate moratoriums for three to six months so that the state does not pay rent during the period it takes for a state body to outfit office space it is renting.
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