Warrants for the arrest of Dhanraj
Thursday 11, January 2001
Dhanraj Singh
Police have closed the URP fraud probe and have obtained 27 warrants for the arrest of former Local Government Minister Dhanraj Singh.
Sources confirmed yesterday that each of the 27 warrants charges Singh with corruption in the running of the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP).
Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj was yesterday preparing extradition documents to be sent to the United States Government to have Singh extradited back to Trinidad to answer the charges, sources said.
The 27 warrants were procured by police two days ago, after four months of investigations by the Fraud Squad.
This followed lengthy consultation involving senior police officers and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mark Mohammed SC.
Dhanraj Fired!
October 13, 2000
Trinicenter News
Dhanraj Singh was yesterday relieved of his Local Government portfolio. He has been replaced by Junior Works Minister Carlos John.
A release from the Prime Minister’s Office last night stated that Acting President Ganace Ramdial, acting in accordance with the advice of Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, had appointed John “as Minister of Local Government and Minister in the Ministry of Works and Transport”.
The official announcement ended persistent reports that Singh—who wrote Panday on Wednesday stating that he was not interested in contesting the Pointe-a-Pierre seat, which he holds, in the upcoming general election—was to be removed as Local Government Minister.
John has already been given responsibilities which previously fell under Singh’s charge. John is in charge of certain roads, which originally were part of the Local Government mandate.
Singh’s ministerial career seemed rosy up to two years ago, when his portfolio was expanded from just Local Government to include the URP.
During the 1999 Local Government elections, he was the main attraction on the UNC platform, with his trademark “wine”.
But even as he grew in popularity within the party and the Government, he became a highly controversial figure in the national community.
He was involved in incident after incident. These included an assault charge involving himself and police officer Norton Regist in 1997, a matter which is still before the courts; an altercation at the Tunapuna Regional Corporation, where he allegedly pulled or showed off a gun to protesting workers; an altercation in which a cutlass was brandished; a cussing incident; and the beating of two businessmen at his constituency office by members of the Muslimeen. There was an irate woman who claimed that she had also been threatened by the minister.
Subsequent to Singh's public conflicts, at the formal opening of Tent City in Port of Spain , Mr Panday praised Singh as “one of my best ministers”.
Singh was placed in charge of the controversial Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), which was removed from the portfolio of Works Minister Sadiq Baksh. And once he took over that programme, the controversy grew worse, with all kinds of rumours about links between URP and the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen.
The most controversial moment in Singh’s short-lived career came when Hansraj Sumairsingh, then chairman of the Rio Claro/ Mayaro regional corporation, was murdered in December 1999, nearly a year ago. Shortly before this tragic event, Sumairsingh had written to the Prime Minister, claiming that he had been threatened by Singh. No one has been charged for that crime.
Opposition Leader Patrick Manning declined comment on this latest development yesterday. The PNM has been calling for Singh’s resignation since the start of the year.
But another PNM official stated: “They are now trying to scapegoat Dhanraj. He is the least of the apostles. Now they have started with him, it is time for others to go, beginning with the Prime Minister.”
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Police commissioner Hilton Guy has hinted that action may be taken soon in connection with the killing of United National Congress (UNC) councillor Hansraj Sumairsingh, chairman of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation.
The seat became vacant following the death of Hansraj Sumairsingh, chairman of the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation.
His body was found in a pool of blood on December 31, at his beach house in Mayaro.
His death has become a political issue with the PNM accusing the Government of having a hand in the detaining of two suspects two weeks ago, only to release them, as an election trick A reward of $100,000 is being offered by the UNC for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Sumairsingh's killers.
Extracts from the Trinidad Guardian and The Express Newspapers
Threats and intimidation/Fear for safety of Journalists and other media workers
How Dhanraj Singh turned from Mr Nice Guy into the Sheriff
Senior Official's Murder Could Mar Polls
Prime Minister Demands Purge of Gov't Agency
Back to stealing elections
