PNM Secretary signs 15 million contract 15 days before election.

PNM Secretary signs 15 million contract 15 days before election

People’s National Movement General Secretary Foster Cummings is once again denying that he used his former position as a government minister to obtain contracts for family businesses.He accused some members of the media of attempting to defame him and his family.Speaking during a news conference yesterday held at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Port-of-Spain, the former minister of youth development and national service said Pical Services Limited and Rivulet Investments Limited, directed by his wife and daughter, have done work with the State for more than three decades, including under a past UNC government.

Meanwhile, Cummings’ colleague, Faris Al-Rawi, defended him, saying there are laws in place to oversee possible conflicts of interest in office.(Mr. Faris's family allegedly receives over 31 million in contracts yearly.)He pointed to the Public Procurement Act and the Integrity in Public Life Act.“Is it that you’re saying there was some wrongdoing in the extensions of contracts, simply because he is who he is, and was who he was?

Last Sunday, Guardian Media’s Investigative Desk revealed that companies directed by Foster Cummings’ wife and daughter (Pical and Rivulet) received more than $15 million in contract extensions from the Housing Development Corporation. According to HDC documents, the contract extensions were granted 12 days before the 2025 General Elections.However, Cummings argued that the extensions were granted in February.

Sigh....

In reply to sgtdjones

Trinidad like it so

Nobody agrees to any oversight

Maximum leaders decide what they want

Companies connected to Foster awarded $100M in state contracts

Last Sunday, Guardian Media’s Investigations Desk reported that two companies led by the wife and daughter of former government minister and People’s National Movement (PNM) General Secretary Foster Cummings–Pical Services and Rivulet Investments–were awarded $15.6 million in HDC contracts 12 days ahead of the 2025 General Election.

This week, further investigations by Guardian Media uncovered a network of companies with business and personal associations to Cummings, which received over $100 million in state contracts during the PNM government’s 10-year tenure. Cummings, however, has denied any suggestions of wrongdoing and maintains awards of contracts were above board.Companies associated with People’s National Movement General Secretary Foster Cummings and/or his family businesses received more than $102 million in Housing Development Contracts (HDC), Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDECOTT), and school improvement contracts under the PNM government between 2015 and 2025.

Guardian Media’s investigations unearthed a web of PNM connections, work associations, and shared registered business addresses.The contracts were awarded to five companies: Rivulet Investments Limited, Kyldon Enterprises Limited, Austin Rogers Holdings Construction Company Limited, Pical Services, and Sure Surv (Serv) Limited.Cummings said he has been a businessman for the past 30 years and insists there was no conflict of interest in companies linked to him receiving millions in state contracts while he served as both an MP and a salaried government minister under the Keith Rowley administration.As of 2022, according to HDC documents, Rivulet had between two and four employees. The largest number of employees it had between 2010 and 2022 was 11. Comparatively, Pical had 83 employees in 2010, but this number dropped to zero by 2022.

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In 2019, then opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, now Prime Minister, raised questions about potential links between Cummings and Klydon. She claimed that the company, incorporated in November 2015, had no shares or assets yet was awarded a $1.2 million UDECOTT contract to build a community centre.“I want to ask whether there is any link between Klydon Enterprises Limited, Cummings & Associates Company Limited, and PICAL Services Limited? And whether there is any link between Senator Cummings and either of these companies?” she said at a public meeting in Couva.In response, Cummings denied the claims, saying that the companies he was associated with were not favoured by HDC

Accountant Joel Edwards, who served as CEPEP chairman between 2023 and 2025, was listed as Kyldon Enterprises’ accountant. He was also Cummings and Associates Limited’s accountant.Both Cummings and Associates and Klydon Enterprises Limited are registered to the same business address–Unit 2, Metro Building, Noel Street, Couva. Metro Building is the Metro Hotel in Couva.According to Guardian Media’s investigations, while the companies don’t share directors, Cummings and Associates Limited and AR Holdings are registered to the same address–Unit 2, Metro Building, Noel Street, Couva–the same registered address as Kyldon–Metro Hotel, owned by Mukesh Ramsingh.

Told that Guardian Media had information that the two companies have the same business address, Rogers said, “No, no. My business is in Metro Hotel, Couva. We never had business ties, and we never will.”A Ministry of Legal Affairs source, who did not want to be named, explained that companies listing the same registered address may be sharing office space, an accounting service, or part of the same ownership group, or it could raise questions about ownership transparency.During a visit to Metro Hotel, Guardian Media’s Investigations Desk, no signage or offices were observed for AR Holdings, Cummings and Associates, or Kyldon, despite all three listing the location as their business address. There are also no accounting or law firm offices in the building.Another commonality between AR Holdings and Pical Services is that they share an accountant, Prakash Ramsaroop.

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Cummings complained that he did not like the tone of this author’s articles, as, to him, they were defamatory to him and his family.

“When I read your article, your article is intended to castigate and paint my family in a particular way, which I find very unfair, because you know very well you are an investigative reporter, you know all those contracts have been listed for a decade or more and have nothing to do with my role as a minister.

“There were no contracts awarded (while I was minister). Those were contract extensions. So you had no right to do that, and that’s very unfair journalism. I went into Parliament as a businessman, and those contracts existed before my tenure as minister. What do you hope to achieve by that?

Note: An extension when you are a minister is not a contract?