(Trinidad Express) For nearly a year, taxpayers footed the bill for not one but three cellphones for ex-transport minister Devant Maharaj, in contravention of the Government’s own one-cellphone rule.
Insiders report further that one of the two Government-issued cellphones to Maharaj—708-0217—was in the possession of his girlfriend and chief executive officer of Radio Jaagriti, Kristal Ramroopsingh, up until his reassignment to the Ministry of Food Production in late June of this year.
Maharaj has vehemently denied the charge, insisting he was the holder of the two “708” numbers provided by the Ministry of Transport as well as his own personal “683” mobile, which is paid for by the State. Persons with knowledge of the situation, however, report that Ramroopsingh not only had use of the 708-0217 Government-issued cellphone, but gave the number out to people as her personal contact detail.
Several Radio Jaagriti staff, including the station’s head of news, Lokesh Maharaj, identified the 708-0217 mobile as one of two numbers they have for the station’s CEO. Telephone logs obtained by the Sunday Express for the “708” cellphone in question show a significant number of calls placed to Ramroopsingh’s mother’s cellphone, her family home in Fyzabad, Radio Jaagriti’s Tunapuna office at the corner of Pasea Main Road and to Minister Maharaj’s personal and other “708” Government-issued cellphones.
Ramroopsingh did not answer her phone and failed to respond to several voice mail messages left on her cellphone up to late yesterday.
Last Thursday, Minister Maharaj said he gave up the two “708” Ministry of Transport-issued cellphones when he took up official duty as the new Minister of Food Production at the end of June this year. He denied he ever gave the BlackBerry Torch 708-0217 cellphone to his girlfriend for her personal use and insisted the phone was always with him up until his reassignment of ministerial portfolios at the end of June.
Asked to explain the volume of phone calls placed to his girlfriend’s mother’s cellphone and family home, Minister Maharaj said: “Yeah… well, I call her mother from time to time.”
And the radio station of which she is the CEO? According to Maharaj, he has a “very close relationship” to the station’s founder and general secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Sat Maharaj, who he said, is based there.
Asked about the calls made from the 708-0217 number during the weekly Thursday Cabinet meetings when ministers are prohibited from using their cellphones, he answered this way: “Yeah… well, we do have breaks in between.”
And the calls placed to himself on his other two cellphones? According to the Minister, that was when he gave the phone to his adviser to check for messages. Asked if he was in the habit of having long chats with his personal adviser, Maharaj said: “Yeah, we have intense conversations.”
His responses were vague, however, about the roaming charges billed to the 708-0217 number while he was on a private trip to Miami last December and again, on official State business to India in January of this year.
Maharaj could shed no light on who exactly authorised local telephone provider Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) to put the 708-0217 number on roaming while he was on a private trip abroad with all three of his cellphones, or why the limit on the controversial cellphone was increased from $5,000 to $15,000 a month. Insiders report the limit was extended to $15,000 in part because of late payments to TSTT. He confirmed girlfriend Ramroopsingh did travel with him to Miami nearing the end of December last year, but had no answer for why he placed nine calls to himself from the controversial Government-issued phone to his personal and official cellphones while in Miami.
