PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC -Former prime minister Stuart Young SC, is leading the legal team for fired dismissed Central Bank Governor, Dr. Alvin Hilaire, who earlier this week confirmed that his attorneys had issued a pre-action protocol letter to the Cabinet regarding his “wrongful termination as governor.”
Hilaire, whose contract was due to expire in December next year, has indicated that he hopes the “matter will be expeditiously settled”.
Stuart Young (File Photo)
The Trinidad Guardian newspaper reported on Friday that Hilaire had disclosed that Young, who briefly served as Prime Minister from March to April this year, is leading his legal team, which also includes two other attorneys, Anthony Bullock and Imran Ali.
The newspaper quoted Hilaire, who was first appointed to the position in 2015, as saying that “a calm, prompt and complete resolution of the matter would be in the best interest of the international economic reputation of Trinidad and Tobago”.
On the day he was dismissed with immediate effect last week, the Ministry of Finance issued a statement saying, “The Government will provide further information in the coming days.”
But in Parliament, a few days later, the newly elected government of Prime Minister Kamala Persad declined to give reasons for his termination.
Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath, who is also the Leader of Government Business, in responding to the “urgent question” filed by the opposition about the dismissal, invoked a rarely used Standing Order and refused to answer questions on the issue, claiming that doing so would be contrary to public interest.
Speaker Jagdeo Singh then informed legislators, “The minister… is invoking Standing Order 27(1)(g) which says, ‘A minister may decline to answer a question if in his opinion the publication of the answer would be contrary to the public interest”.
Hilaire has been replaced by Larry Howai, a former finance minister in a previous United National Congress (UNC) led administration.
The Ministry of Finance statement quoted Finance Minister, Davendranath Tancoo, as describing Howai, a former head of the state-owned First Citizens Bank (FCB), as “a man with proven financial experience and also with an outstanding track record, to his new role”. Prime Minister Persad Bissessar had publicly stated about three weeks prior that Hilaire was refusing to divulge information on the top users of foreign exchange in the country.
and then 