AG confirms Gov’t purchasing new building for DPP’s Office

Senior Reporter

jesse.ramdeo@cnc3.co.tt

Attorney General Reginald Armour has confirmed Government is closing in on the purchase of the unoccupied First Citizens (FCB) building on St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, to house the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

In response to questions at yesterday’s Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, Armour said the lease agreement for a Park Street building that had been previously earmarked for the building was terminated. Armour said $55 million in rental fees had been paid for that building since 2019.

Armour said fixtures and furniture installed at the Park Street building will be spread throughout other offices operated by the DPP.

“A lot of the furniture which was purchased by the Office of the Attorney General and was actually installed in the Park Street building while it remained unoccupied has been reallocated and graciously accepted by the DPP in his Winsure building and other offices of the DPP, because we are outfitting those buildings as we speak for better accommodations of the DPP,” Armour said as he confirmed an exclusive Guardian Media story which revealed the impending purchase.

“The Minister of Finance is about to sign off on a purchase of the FCB building and that is to purchase that building for the accommodation of the DPP. A valuation report has been obtained and the building is therefore going to be purchased by the state.”

The AG said DPP Roger Gaspard and his staff have given the new building a thumb’s up following site visits.

Contacted for comment on Tuesday, Gaspard said there was a viewing of the building approximately six months ago. However, he could not give a timeframe for when the actual move would take place.

Last year, Gaspard complained about manpower shortages in his office. Yesterday, Armour said efforts were being made to fill the gaps.

“The total number of staff for the DPP is 129, the number of vacancies filled is 75 and vacancies 54,” he said

Meanwhile, during a meeting to approve an allocation of $823,796,200 to the Office of the Prime Minister, Opposition members, including Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, failed to further probe the $50 million allocation for entertainment and functions.

Oropouche West MP Dave Tancoo questioned the revised estimate and asked what accounted for the repairs and maintenance of buildings. Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young explained that the allocation represented funds owed.

“There are huge outstanding sums of money owed by the OPM to UdeCOTT and when a reconciliation exercise was done, the sum owed to UdeCOTT from since fiscal 2019 to date is approximately $53 million, so when the Ministry of Finance saw this, the Budget Division allocated sums of money to repay these sums owing under various line items, one of the line items that it was allocated to is official entertainment,” Young said.

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