The suggestion was made yesterday that billionaire businessman Lawrence Duprey, who chairs CL Financial Holdings Ltd, gave the "gift" of the ?119,183 ($1.2 million) to two daughters of Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday in 1997, for political advantage when Panday was the then prime minister.
By Hayden MillsDuprey shocked a packed Port of Spain Magistrates' Court yesterday when he was called before Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls to testify on Panday's behalf.
No one saw him enter or leave the Court at the regular entrances on St Vincent Street and when his name was called several gasps were heard and shocked facial expressions seen.
Panday, 73, of Bryan's Gate, Phillipine, San Fernando, is on summary trial before McNicolls charged with making false declarations to the Integrity Commission for 1997, 1998 and 1999 when he knowingly omitted the account held with Oma at the NatWest Bank, 16 Wimbledon Hill Road, London.
Panday dropped a bombshell on Friday when he said that at the start of his case. Oma had informed him that Duprey has granted a $1.2 million scholarship to their daughters.
And as Duprey attempted to convince the court that the scholarship, which later was described more as "financial assistance", was scrupulously granted, lead State prosecutor Timothy Cassel QC enquired from him: "Are you seriously telling this court that in November 1997 you did not wish to curry-favour with the then Panday administration."
Duprey said no.
Cassel then drew Duprey's attention to the planning by Caribbean Nitrogen Company (CNC) to develop an ammonia facility around 1997, which Duprey pointed out came into effect in 2002.
Duprey agreed with Cassel that Clico Energy, the management arm of CLICO's Energy Group and a subsidiary of CL Financial, had stakeholdings in CNC and that Duprey was elected chairman of CNC in 1997, a company which has a declared capital of US $100 million.
When asked, Duprey said he did not request any special entitlement with respect to tax breaks.
CNC received the same tax arrangements as other bodies, Duprey said, and added that it was all part of the incentives given by the government to companies at that time.
Cassel then asked if CNC received a tax break of seven years when the norm was five, to which Duprey said that was a special case since CNC ventured to build clients and take risks when no one else did at that time.
Cassel agreed that it was a special case since it caused an upset for a contract between the National Gas Company (NGC) and bpTT.
Duprey denied knowledge that a contract between bpTT which supplied natural gas to NGC, was "sidelined" because it was a "binding contract" which prevented NGC from supplying gas to CNC.
Duprey said he was not even aware that NGC got their natural gas from BP but thought it was supplied to them by EOG Resources.
However, Cassel insisted that this was exactly what had happened.
And when he asked Duprey if he knew that bpTT was sidelined so that EOG could provide natural gas to NGC instead so that CNC could get gas from NGC, Duprey said he did not know that happened.
As Duprey began to see Cassel's accusation more clearly, he said:
"According to my thinking, I can't see that kind of involvement to be meaningful in that contract at all. It would be stupid to implicate and expose myself in light of what is happening all over the world."
He later told Panday's lead attorney Allan Newman QC:
"If I had to make a corrupt payment I would walk away from it because of my character."
He added that a million-dollar corrupt payment made no sense in the transaction Cassel referred to because of its size, implying that $1 million was too small.
Duprey, who told the court that his conglomerate had an asset balance at the end of 2004 of $62 billion, said he was good friend of the Pandays.
As far as the financial assistance given to Panday's daughters, Duprey said it was not unusual and he did not make a "conscious effort" to speak to Panday about it, adding that Oma approached him for it.
The sum for two students studying law in London was not exorbitant, Duprey said, and he told the court that his company gave 85 scholarships already.
Duprey said he would be a "fool" to ask favours of any politician.
When Cassel asked if helping the Prime Minister's daughters was a priority, Duprey said no, and added: "Panday's girls were undergoing hardship."
He also said: "Their (Panday's daughters) need was greatest," and reasoned that Oma was his friend, after telling Cassel that he could walk through the court and go into the street and find people in need.
Duprey could not help Cassel with the tracing of the money though, when Cassel asked, in the event that the relevant authorities wanted to investigate it.
Duprey told Newman he supported Panday's political philosophy and he was social friends with Panday's wife Oma but that he has had relations with several of the political heads from since the time of Dr Eric Williams and had been at the Prime Minister's residence on numerous occasions.
He said he did not regard Panday as a businessman and Oma was more financially minded.
He added that he too did not take care of his personal finances because he has people to do that for him, including his wife.
"If she wrote a cheque, I didn't know about it and she took care of the finances," Duprey said.
