(Trinidad Express) In the face of questions about the propriety of the arrangement, former permanent secretary in the ministry of works, Cheryl Blackman, maintained on Friday she broke no rules when she allowed her minister, Jack Warner, to pay for the expenses for herself and other members of staff to travel to Jamaica.
“I didn’t think we did anything wrong,” she said.
She said she and other members of staff went on a private trip which had nothing to do with official government business.
Her description of the trip appears to contradict Warner’s version given at the meeting in Chaguanas on Thursday night, when he said: “I have never travelled for the government except once when in January 2011, I went to Jamaica with my permanent secretary and other members of staff from the Ministry of Works and Transport for the signing of the documents for the merger of Caribbean Airlines and Air Jamaica. For that trip, I paid all my expenses including my air travel and accommodation, and I also paid the expenses for my staff.”
Blackman, however, said she went on a private trip to Jamaica and had no official role, but admitted that Warner paid for her and other members of staff.
Told that concerns had been raised that it was highly irregular for a minister to pay for an official trip for any member of staff, Blackman asked: “Did you speak to him (Warner)?”
