Panday & his boys sharing a cell

[PapaSmurf]

Just like the name says. Mr. Panday, Mr. Carlos John, Mr. Ish Galbaransingh and Mrs. Oma Panday have all been arrested today on a charge of Corruption and intent to defraud the state of 250,000 pounds sterling. They are currently being held and no attempt at bail has been set or met. They were apprehended today simultaneously by the Anti Corruption branch of the police service. Strangely the arrests came after Mr. & mrs Panday held a reception for representatives from the Indian Parliment.
Prime Minister Manning could not be reached for comment.

who enlightened among you can tell me what this means?

[rb]

Does it really matter ? Our reputation is already tainted and will continue to be tainted as long as these 2 parties go at it. This just goes to show how the political game works. I can't help but think that Bas would have done the same had the situation been the other way around. Seems like the PM has been reading the Art of War now doesnt it.

[SideSwipe]

Well actually they were all granted bail, however Panday refused to take his bail and is currently spending the night in the POS jail.

This is a serious issue, and one that is bound to get international <negative> attention. It also comes just days before the CJ is scheduled to take Manning to court, which makes this whole thing reek. It is also going to gain a lot of sympathy support for the UNC.

I must also say that it is simply appalling that the Opposition Leader of all people was not given the chance to turn himself in or at least had the arrest made at his residence or somewhere else. Instead, the arrest was made in front of a diplomatic delegation from India. Brilliant and disgusting move. We've just touched the edge of a huge mess.

[Crixx_Creww]

iam glad they didnt give him the opputunity to turn himself in

he woulda jus  tell his lawyers to tell them he hadda go out de country for something (again)
doh give him no chance to run

no excuse bout oma "sick" dis time

[SideSwipe]

What about the backlash though, Crixx? This happened in front of an international delegation. We are truly a banana republic in the eyes of the world now.

I always say that if Panday truly is guilty of these charges, then let the charges be laid. I have no allegience to either party and would rather they both did not exist. However, the timing and method of this situation is extremely fishy. The PNM is digging their own grave and taking the entire country down with it.

It's all a scape goat to divert attention from the larger issue of the CJ/PM court case and the complete failure of this administration in every imaginable sector. The education system is in the pits, the health services take over half an hour to get to the scene of a fatal accident 5 minutes from the hospital, the road network is in mess, the fire services work with no water in the hydrants and buss up hoses, the police service complains of lack of equipment while the army gets more than doubled in size. Especially the police issue!

The crime situation is completely out of control. It has gotten so bad that quite frankly I and many others I know can no longer even leave our homes except for the odd movie and classes. Criminals wait to pelt grenades in police cars. They walk into house parties and stores to haul their kidnap victims out. Foreign travel advisories have been issued warning travellers of the dangers involved in coming to what was once a paradise a few short years ago.

All this is shrugged off with stupid comments like it's gang related, it's temporary, and it's not so bad. I am so fed up of this political football the country is played into. Pay attention to the important issues. If they would give half as much attention to the safety of citizens as they do to hounding their political opponents, we would be in much better shape.

Get rid of the corrupt politicans asap. This includes Manning and his entire cabinet, who knows how many have now ended up before the Integrity Commission. But FIRST AND FOREMOST. Do their elected duty and protect the citizens. It's like we're living in a jail cell just like Panday now. Plenty people just packing up and migrating. How many do you know who have migrated or have left to study and decided not to return? I know several.

[Crixx_Creww]

nah i think alyuh real overlooking one major point

the government has nothing to do with the actions of the police.

THe police move independantly of the political party in power.

I applaud the courage of the police in takin this action.

IT sending a strong message that if they man enuff to ruff up panday an dem infront ah people so. den common criminals should be weary(what a great day that would be)

I am honestly most surprised though that they had de ballz to hole ish.

He more dangerous dan panday an de ress ah dem combine

[SideSwipe]

Ah but this is a highly political matter. The PNM is currently in charge, and much as our system of governance is meant to be split into the executive, legal and legislative, hence the need for a president, prime minister and chief justice...the lines have been crossed.

The government has a lot to do with the actions of the police, although they should not. This much has been true throughout our history and is one of the key reasons for constitutional reform. Surely you do not see that such an old issue resurfacing with such agression and at this partiular timing reeks?

Like I said. If the charges are true, let them be levelled. Let the entire issue be done with and quickly. Watch and see how it will drag on. The trial due on the 7th will end up being adjourned. It will then drag on for months to come clean into elections, which I have a feeling will be called early. It will also, as it will be adjourned, overshadow the entire CJ issue. If there is one thing the PNM has managed to do since taking office is to perform the incredible feat of doing a worse job than the UNC did. I truly wish I could agree with you that it is a move independent of the party in power. As it stands, I can't.

What a country we live in. Is a real paradise eh? A banana republic of the first degree.

[TriniXaeno]

1) Police did not act to oust a senator from the Red House, lihixxxxxxx idmc

2) Police act and arrest people on fraud, lihixxxxxxx idmc.

damned if you do, damned if you don't.

That is the name of the politics game. If you're not up to speed with that, then be prepared to get WTFPWNED by every UNC / PNM newsletter and bulletin that comes your way.

These guys will find fault with everything and make a mountain out of a mole hill. I could assure you, no matter how Panday was arrested, it would have been deemed inappropriate, politically motivated and made into a big stink by the opposition and pro opposition members of the public, at every turn.

Same applies had it been the PNM peeps in the hold.

[SideSwipe]

damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Too true.

The problem is not that the police have made their arrests for fraud. But I'll believe it when the cases have been put to rest. The entire thing reeks and we'll see as it plays out. This entire thing is going to backfire in a very bad way,

[W1nTry]

Hello, the day of the 1990 coup, both panday and Manning were not in the red house. Plz, we can all suspect that things are rotten right thru and if u think making a bold move as to arrest bas in front of a foreign delegation is bad, think of how it looks when we put a man who was responsible for overthrowing the government out on the streets and wasted our tax paying money in the process? If u ask me the US and other foreign countries have been watching us with a pinch... hell a MOUNTAIN of salt for a LONG TIME. This perhaps is just another fishy scheme by the PM and his party to detract attention from his matter or maybe its not, point is better it be done and over with than prolonged as it has been for so many years. If not for the amt of natural resources we have in this country, you think ANYONE WOULD WANT TO LIKE IN THIS HELL HOLE that its become. Its sad to see the state of things and the way its changed in just 10-15 years. Not to mention that ppl fail to look at the big picture which is, when a diff government comes into power and things seem to get worse its because of the failings of the last regime. THink about it! if u get into power and yuh BROKE, what yuh have to work with? NOTHING so things look worse. Same applies here, if the previus gov. didn't start to put the necessary bills, laws, support into the system, when the other party comes to power NOT only do they have DAMAGE control to handle they have the task of making do with what they have. I don't support either party nor have I ever and prolly never will till those two old bastards drop dead. However it is also the responsibility of all of us a citizens and human beings to do the right thing. As I read in a very moving book, human thought is a very powerful tool that GOD gave us. If tom the WHOLE world woke up and said I want to end starvation it would be so. Same way, we as human beings sit and point fingers and mock each other and say how corrupt the other is, remember before u take the splinter out of someone else's eye, stop and take the PLANK out of ur own!!! daz my 2c for now.

[SideSwipe]

I agree with most of what you have said, W1nTry. However, not where you say the failure of one regime is the fault of the previous one. The major issue pressing the country today is crime. Particularly within the last 3 years. The UNC started the problem, yes...but guess who made it worse? The PNM. We have how many billions coming into the country, yet the police force does not have the equipment it requires.

So much spy equipment was purchased by the PNM...can you tell me why this is not in the hands of the police to track down these criminals? Helicopters buzz around idly at night, but can you tell me why they are not available to pursue a getaway car from the air? Look at how many times the police take off after someone and then lose them. Aerial support would help a lot there. Crime was not the issue under the UNC tenure as it is today under the PNM...in fact it was decreasing. Not long ago the statistics were in the media, and if you look at the Guardian Forums there is a thread with the stats attached, murder rates and the solved cases between 1995 and March of 2005.

The UNC is guilty of its own set of problems, and I will not disagree that some things they did contributed to the current situation. However, the PNM is responsible for its own failures, not anybody else. How can an administration that sits idly by while its citizens are raped, murdered, robbed and kidnapped daily, and administration that sees this going on but looks to more than double a 75% unused military force while the police force responsible for curbing crime is overtaxed and underequipped, and administration that makes statements like the crime situation is just temporary, that it's mostly gang related, that it's not so bad NOT be held accountable for this situation?

This government watches crime happening and does nothing. Town burns and the hydrants have no water, the hoses are riddled with hoses. In short, our fire services are ineffective. Plans are looked at to revamp the water hydrant system and then promptly chucked out the window. Has anyone heard of these plans since the week or 2 following the fire? A man was knocked down on the highway just minutes from the hospital. Major hospital. He lay there for over half an hour and died waiting for an ambulance although it was just minutes away and at 8:30 in the night when there was no traffic. To remedy the situation, ambulances are ordered but apparently not put in use and foreign nurses are brought in who can't even speak english.

The road infrastructure is horrendous. At the very least, the interchange at the Grand Bazaar intersection was beginning construction. Yes, it did begin, that is why we have the huge split when going east...the split was supposed to take you up onto the interchange. Okay, the PNM scrapped it...I say it was political but they supposedly had a new interchange designed. Why has it been left as is after all this time for the population to spend 3 hours getting into town every morning? Not to mention the roads are in a worse state than they ever were. No maintenance done. Frederick Street has a tumor and Wrightson Road is warped more than a beach. The new lane on the CR highway is showing warps already. The Diego Martin Highway extension has been left in a dirt state for months, although the levelling and compating phase is long over.

No man, the PNM is accountable for these problems themselves, not any prior administration. The UNC regime may have contributed to some problems, but these major issues facing the populace; these issues of failed health services, failed police services, failed fire services, deteriorating road transportation network are of major concern and affect us every day in a very real way. These are also things that require no leglislative change, nothing. These major problems that affect us today are very real problems that are ignored by the current administration. It's the fault of the current administration and nobody else.

Now if you want to discuss the Bakr and constitutional change being issues that the opposition is responsible for/contributed to...well then fine - I very much agree. However, these are not the issues that make this country unsafe to live in for everyday people.

[Shogun]

i hate politics, and don't quite understand it, but i also hate the condition the country is in. why aren't there other parties for the public to vote for? why is always the bad and the ugly

[hiddenagenda1]

It's funny everytime the government is getting heat over any issue something like this turns up?
CJ enquiry, Vijay arrested, Sharma issue.
As soon as the sharma issue died down a bit, BAM something else.

People getting kidnap every week, crime up, murder up, but heck lets go and spend 850 milion on a frigging stadium.
You really think all that money going to the stadium?heh

[TriniXaeno]

I won't blame the government directly for the state of affairs in this country right now.

I'll blame a bunch of shitty mcs not doing thier damn job in the Police service.

As a business owner, the Police have done nothing but let me down. Hardly Manning or Panday to blame. They had all the resources necessary to render assistance. A gun, a police car, legs, arms and mouth.

Instead of leveraging these effectively, they choose to laze around, talk shit and pass the buck.

Good help is not hard to find, it's down right impossible.

We have had to run down bandits, collar them and hand them to the police on a silver platter, only to see the individuals released days later for no good reason other than the police couldn't be bothered to make a good case and were much more interested in how we "handled" the perpetrator. WTF? De man is a mc bandit! So what if he get a lil chuck on de ground. You think he was going to come along smiling?

More recently, we went to an inspector, investigating a case for us and de mc asking us, what we were able to dig up on the matter.

WTMC? Last I checked, YOU WERE THE INSPECTOR. INSPECT!!

bunch of jokers.

I would be a fool to blame the heads of govt for just slackness. These fellas need to be privatised and the lot fired for non performance. Let some swedish company come and run the police service yes. TTPOST totally transformed after they did that.

If your car got stolen, who would you trust to retrieve it? The Police? Or Car Search (Private Company)?

As much as bashing Panday and Manning is fun, this slackness goes beyond them.

I rest my case.

[orginalvexman]

so thats 1 blame for the police and another blame for politics when will people realize that the state of the country is a reflection of ourselves we all do corruption ior have experienced it  imagine 2 people go for a job who yuh think will get it the man with  the most talent or the person who parents  have relations with

IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP POLTICS AND POLICE REPRESNT US IF WE DONT LIKE THE SHIT THEY DO WE SHOULD JUST MOVE THEM CAUSE   I SURE WE ARE IN OUR LEGAL RITES TO GET RID OF ALL OF HOSE CORRUPT MINISTERS IF WE CHOOOSSE TO LOOK AT WHAT URAGAUY DID

[Crixx_Creww]

takin bets on whether or not panday get molest in jail

[W1nTry]

Dread yuh might have to take bets that men eh get molested by panday, yuh eh see how de man does look like a evil ole troll? but anyways. I hear what yuh saying sideswipe, I should have said that its not totally the prev gov fault though it can sometimes be heavily so. I think for this country to get out of the gutter we need something big... a LARGE catastrophe. Look how tsunami and hurricane and planes crashing into buildings does pull ppl together! plus having a no tolerance on crime stance. Things real bad and its a shame, we as a community perhaps should start taking measures into our own hands... *runs off and puts on forehead protector, Rasengan!!!!*

[Crixx_Creww]

anbu squad needed

*dons itachi's anbu gear and goes hunting*

[SideSwipe]

Good points there Baego...you are quite correct about the police force. While ther eare those on the force that do their job to the best of their abilities, I am sorry to say that they are in the minority. Every public service in this country needs a major overhaul...and neither political party is really going to sit down and do it properly.

Shogun...there are other parties. Most recently there were the Team Unity and the Citizen's Alliance. In fact i will not hide the fact that the last time around, I gave Citizen's Alliance my vote. I personally know of some people who were involved and what they stood for. They did not have the exposure to compete effectively, but they were a party with a difference. The failure of the CA, and even more so the TU given how much more of a following the TU had proved only one thing.

The citizens at large in this country...the masses...are too tribally devoted to the PNM and UNC. They will not give the newcomers a chance, leaving us in the same old cycle of PNM/UNC. The only way for a new party to succeed will be via a coalition NAR style.

originalvexman...I hear ya. Ultimately we, the population, vote these incompetent, corrupt fools into office. When they fail our expectations, we out of concern for our own selves and our own country should remove them from office. But this is Trinidad. Those of us willing to make that stand are in too small a minority to be of much effect.

Paradise ent?

[hiddenagenda1]

Using 850 million to build a stadium , instead of using it to build more police stations and equiping it with cars is what I call  stupid.
Government is not to blame for that?How much stadiums we already have that not being used as they supposed to be?
They are wasting the money better spent on improving infrastructure and the police service.
What about better benefits for policemen?Encourge people to enlist.
What about more squad cars?You know how much times you call a policestation and they can't come because they have no cars?(They probably using it to drive they child to school I figure).