RENTAL DEAL!

ISSUE: #147 | FRIDAY 11 th MARCH, 2016
SIS IN NEW
MULTI-MILLION
$CANDAL
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SEE PAGE 17
People’s Partnership (PP)
preferred contractor SIS
is being named in yet
another multi-million dollar
scandal; this time at the Penal
Recreation Ground in the heart
of the Siparia Constituency of
former Prime Minister Kamla
Persad-Bissessar. The situation
has rendered one of the
most prestigious and celebrated
first class cricket venues in the
country to a state of abandonment.
According to information
received by Sunshine, SIS has
pocketed approximately $14
million – 10 percent of the contract
value - and has lifted not a
finger at the site.
The ground is better known as
the Petrotrin Ground and is located
on Clarke Road, Penal opposite
Petrotrin’s Exploration Department.
The $140 million contract for
the upgrade of the ground was issued
to Point Lisas Construction
Ltd (PLCL), one of the dozens of
By Investigative Reporter AZAD ALI
companies owned by SIS under
which bids were submitted for
government contracts.
In September 2014, the contract
was issued to SIS by the Sportt
Company of the Ministry of
Sports with a delivery deadline of
12 months. Sunshine was reliably
advised that a 10 percent advance
was paid to SIS for mobilisation.
According to sources, SIS took
control of the site around October
2014 and immediately fenced
the perimeter with galvanize and
placed container-type site offices
on the compound. The ground
was blocked from public access
and all sporting activities ceased.
Sunshine was advised that in
the haste by the former PP government
to get the project going,
several critical issues were overlooked,
and this may have contributed
to the project being “hang
up” as it currently is.
For starters, Petrotrin did not
agree to hand over the ground to
the SporTT company, even in the
The building that has been left in a deplorable condition
face of a high-handed Cabinet decision.
The ground, even though
the pavilion was in a moderate
state, was a facility used by the
staff when not being used for toplevel
sporting activities.
The source said that there were
“oil installations” close to the existing
field and in the surrounding
areas where the contractor would
have had to work and hence Environmental
Clearance from the
Environmental Management
Authority (EMA) was required.
EMA Clearance has not been obtained
as yet.
At the moment, the playfield
is in a state of abandonment. The
grass is over five feet high in
some places and as much as seven
feet in others.
The wooden pavilion building
is still intact but is falling into disrepair
from lack of use.
Round-the-clock security has
been placed at the site to keep
prying eyes and trespassers away.
“That used to be one of the
most glorious sporting grounds
and it is a shame to see how it has
deteriorated,” the source said.
Even though the sign at the
entrance to the site lists the contractor
as PLCL, everyone whom
Sunshine spoke with, including
ordinary persons passing by, were
aware that PLCL is really an SIS
company.
One source speculated that the
reason SIS has not started work
on the Penal Ground as yet is because
SIS still has a lot of work
still to be done at Irwin Park in
Siparia.
The Irwin Park upgrade, which
is priced at $110 million, was
started in 2012. The contract was
awarded to Phoenix Welding and
Fabricated Ltd (PWFL) and was
expected to be completed in May
2015.
PWFL, like PLCL, is another
SIS company through which
Krishna Lalla trawled for State
contracts.
The park upgrade, though incomplete,
was opened by Persad-
Bissessar in an extravagant ribbon
cutting ceremony 12 days before
September 7, 2015, General Election
which saw her and the PP being
deposed.
When Sunshine visited Irwin
Park, we saw several pieces of
equipment – from rollers to water
trucks and backhoes – at work at
several parts of the facility. All the
equipment bore the logo of Prime
Equipment and Rentals Ltd.
Prime is another SIS company.
With the National Gas Company
(NGC) suing SIS for failure to
deliver on the $1 billion Beetham
Waste Water Project and the High
Court ordering the freezing of
$180 million of SIS’ assets, an
attempt by Prime to ship several
expensive pieces of equipment
out of the country to be auctioned
in the United States in January
was thwarted. NGC was forced
to intervene to stop the equipment
which was in the Port of
Spain Docks from being shipped
to auctioneers Ritchie Brothers in
Florida.
Lalla has not been seen in Trinidad
and Tobago since after the
September polls. Sources say he
packed up shop and headed for
Panama which does not have any
extradition arrangements with
this country.
Additionally, Lalla removed
himself from the network of companies
which are owned by Super
Holdings and transferred what is
left of those companies to his son
Terrance and to an offshore company
in the British Virgin Isles
named Raisin Services Inc.
With the current state of SIS
and its companies, many persons
are asking what will become of
projects not yet completed by
SIS, especially those for which
advanced payments were already
made – projects such as the Penal
Recreation Ground.
“It is more than a year and
a half that SIS has the contract
for the Penal Recreation
Ground and not a blade of
grass has been cut, not a pebble
turned over, not a picket has
been planted. If SIS does not do
this job - even though it is long
overdue – is SIS going to get to
keep that $14 million for doing
nothing?” one source queried.
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