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Storm Gonsalves, son of St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, is seen in this photo posted on his Facebook account. - Photo courtesy FacebookEVEN as his father – St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves – was stoutly denying allegations of wrongdoing in the purchase of HDC units for his mother, sister and himself, Gonsalves' son Storm Gonsalves has threatened to sue Minister in the Ministry of Housing Anil Roberts for the claims he (Roberts) made on social media.
In a Facebook post on November 11, hours after the issue first came to light in Roberts' "Doubles and Coffee" social media blog, Storm said he plans to use any compensation from a successful legal action to invest in cryptocurrency.
“When I sue who I have to sue, and win, I will just buy more bitcoin. So far, it seems I will have to be paid in US, EC, Yuan and TT (currencies),” Storm wrote.
He also suggested the "revelations" were a politically motivated distraction ahead of St Vincent and the Grenadines' general elections set for November 27.
Roberts first raised the issue of Storm, his sister Soleil and their mother Eloise purchasing HDC apartments at the upscale Victoria Keys apartment complex in Diego Martin in his daily Doubles and Coffee blog.
In the 15-minute video, Roberts questioned the motives behind the Vincentian leader’s “inappropriate, disrespectful, undiplomatic and partisan” comments about Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s handling of TT’s foreign policy.
Roberts then said his research led to documents showing the Gonsalves family purchased three first floor apartments valued at $1.96m, $1.625m and $1.3m respectively.
With documents in hand, Roberts questioned whether Gonsalves’ criticism of Persad-Bissessar was influenced by his family’s increased fortunes under the former PNM government.
Newsday attempted to reach Housing Minister David Lee on November 12 for a comment on whether an investigation would be launched into the matter, but was unsuccessful.
NOTHING ILLEGAL
Speaking on state broadcast network NBC Radio in St Vincent on November 12, PM Gonsalves described Roberts’ statements as “misrepresentations” and “falsehoods” and accused Roberts of violating his wife and children’s rights as citizens of TT. He said Roberts was “up to nothing other than political mischief,” by releasing his family’s private information.
He denied using political connections to secure any preferential treatment for his wife and children.
St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. - File photo
“I never spoke to anybody in the Government of Trinidad and Tobago or sought to influence anybody in the government, the state administration or otherwise to accord preferential treatment to these three citizens of Trinidad and Tobago,” Gonsalves said.
“They have done nothing which is illegal, nothing which is immoral, nothing which is unethical.”
He added that his family members are paying mortgages for the properties and there was no malfeasance involved.
Gonsalves also clarified that he had no quarrel with Persad-Bissessar and meant no disrespect when he described her position on the Caribbean remaining a zone of peace as misguided.
Former PNM housing minister Randall Mitchell also weighed in, denying there was wrongdoing in the sale of the apartments to Gonsalves’ relatives.
In a Facebook post, Mitchell, who served as housing minister from March 2016 to April 2018, said the usual HDC allocation criteria did not apply to the open market units as was the case with the units purchased by the Gonsalves family.
“The PNM’s policy on its return to government was to allow the HDC to sell these units through real estate agents to purchasers who were invited to buy on the open market at open market prices, as the usual HDC application qualifying criteria were waived in this instance,” he wrote.
“Prospective purchasers were also made to believe, and were entitled to trust, that their sensitive financial information would remain private, and not be leaked, subject, of course, to our laws.”
Mitchell added the then government was able to save taxpayers $400 million when the project was completed, as construction under the UNC administration between 2010 and 2015 had ballooned to $652 million.
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