T&T..PNM served brief Balisier House funding

Legal documents issued by the court—relating to People's National Movement (PNM) having to explain where they got the money from to build Balisier House—were officially served on the party’s general secretary Foster Cummings around 12:15 am today, as he returned to the country and stepped out of the airport.

Police sources indicated no one in the party wanted to accept service. Party leader Pennelope Beckles is reportedly out of the country.

Cummings returned to the country this morning and accepted service at the Piarco International Airport.

Balisier House probe sparks fresh calls for campaign finance reform

The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) has accused both the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the United National Congress (UNC) of hypocrisy amid the ongoing investigation into the funding of Balisier House, condemning both parties for failing to enact campaign finance reform despite years of promises. The calls for reform come as the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service investigates how the PNM financed the construction of Balisier House after obtaining a court order authorizing the inquiry.

He noted that the Representation of the People (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2020, remained before a Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament for four years without being passed. The proposed legislation would require political parties to register, maintain proper accounting records, submit annual financial reports and disclose the financial institutions where they hold accounts. “They’re both guilty of undermining the democracy of Trinidad and Tobago, because Kamla talks about the 1% financing the PNM and so on. Well, who are the financiers of the UNC, Kamla? Tell us who are the financiers of the UNC,” he said.

He also criticized the PNM for failing to advance campaign finance reform during its decade in office, arguing that the legislation introduced to Parliament in 2020 required only a simple majority and did not depend on the Opposition’s support. “So, when Dr Rowley fusses about what is happening to the PNM. When Penny Beckles fusses about what is happening and Marvin Gonzales — all of them were in Parliament between 2020 and 2025.” His comments came as other political leaders also called for campaign finance reform in response to the investigation into the funding of the PNM’s headquarters.

The Court require the PNM to provide the following documents:

The application names the Trustees of the PNM as the first respondent and the PNM, represented by its General Secretary, as the second respondent. The matter is listed as an ex parte application brought by the Commissioner of Police pursuant to Section 58(1) of the Act, with Ramdath Phillip acting as the applicant in the proceedings. In the filing, ASP Phillip stated that investigators identified property during the course of an investigation into what he described only as a "specified offence".

The application alleged there are reasonable grounds to suspect that:

The total wealth of the respondents exceeds the value of their lawfully obtained wealth;

The total wealth of the respondents exceeds $500,000;

The property in question is owned by the respondents or is under their effective control; and

The property was obtained through the commission of a specified offence.

The police are asking the court to compel the PNM and its trustees to file declarations and answer questions relating to their assets and wealth.

Note : In a decade PNM secretary Cummings received over 30 million in contracts.