00:00The numbers tell a story of extensive legal spending by two of the country's largest state enterprises.
00:07Wasa paid approximately $40.3 million in attorney fees between October 2015 and March 2026.
00:15TNTech paid another $33.63 million between January 2015 and June 2026.
00:23Together, that's more than $73 million in legal fees over just a decade.
00:31The information came through Freedom of Information requests filed by Vishal Passad of Millennials for Change.
00:38But the two agencies responded very differently.
00:41Wasa released a six-day page disclosure identifying the attorneys and firms it paid along with the matters for which
00:48they were engaged.
00:49TNTech disclosed the amounts and years of payment, but redacted every attorney's name.
00:55And the Wasa records provide an unusually detailed look at where some of that money went.
01:00The disclosures cover litigation involving contractors, employees, trade disputes, executive matters, appeals, judicial review proceedings, and other civil claims.
01:10Some individual invoices ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
01:14For example, in 2020, Wasa paid Kerwin Garcia, the husband of President Christine Kangaloo, $243,750 in connection with a
01:24civil appeal involving Trinidad and Tobago Security Services Limited.
01:29The records also show Garcia being paid for matters involving N. and L. Mohammed Enterprises, executive matters, and other litigation.
01:38And the spending was not limited to major litigation.
01:41The documents include payment for opinions, pre-action protocol letters, and other legal services.
01:47In one case, Wasa paid Garcia $50,625 for a proposed judicial review claim, while other executive and civil matters
01:57generated additional payments.
01:59The disclosure also shows how legal costs can accumulate around individual disputes.
02:04One example in the long-running poll, D.L. and others vs. Wasa matter, the records show an invoice totaling
02:11more than $1.6 million worth payments,
02:14including amounts attributed to Russell Martineau, Ravindra Nanga, and Lydia Mendonca.
02:20The disclosure specifically notes the breakdown of that invoice, including $690,000 to Martineau, $460,000 to Nanga, and $464
02:31,025 to Mendonca.
02:34Other matters include cases involving contractors and companies, such as ZNS Construction, Superindustrial Services, Flamingo Construction, and others.
02:44And then there is the overseas legal bill.
02:48Wasa records show payments to foreign counsel in both U.S. dollars and British pounds.
02:54Among the overseas payments is $233,700 to London-based barrister Jonathan Acton Davis.
03:02Using the exchange rate applied in the FOIA analysis, that's approximately $1.58 million Trinidad and Tobago dollars.
03:11A further payment of $78,612 brings the two disclosed Davis payments to more than $2.1 million TNT dollars.
03:20Wasa also paid UK firm JMW Solicitors LLP $48,079 for legal advice and due diligence in 2023 and 2024.
03:32The records also identify payments to other overseas counsel, including Sheridan's and UK barristers.
03:39So the legal bill was not simply a matter of local attorneys appearing in local courts.
03:44Wasa was also spending public money on international legal expertise.
03:48The Wasa disclosure allows the payments to be ranked.
03:52Kerwin Garci is identified as the largest recipient at approximately $6.2 million over the period.
03:58Alexander, Jeremy, and company follows at about $3.1 million.
04:03MG Daily and Partners is next at approximately $3 million.
04:07Otway & Associates received about $2.5 million, while Reginald Amor, senior counsel, received approximately $2.45 million.
04:15Other firms and attorneys in the top 10 include Raffaella Jodia, Fitzwilliam Stone Furnace Smith & Morgan,
04:23Pauline Blanc de la Bastide & Jaislon, Tammy Libudu & Russell Martineau.
04:28Those figures are approximations based on the six-day page disclosure and include foreign currency converted into TT dollars.
04:36The underlying documents demonstrate the repeated nature of some of these engagements.
04:41For example, in 2021 and 2022, the Wasa records show multiple Garcia payments across litigation involving Lisa Clark, NLL Mohamed
04:51Enterprises,
04:52K&I Auto Services, Delta Construction and Executive Matters.
04:56But the picture is considerably less transparent at TNTech.
05:00Its August 24th response to the FOIA request says the commission decided to disclose the requested information while redacting the
05:07names of the attorneys.
05:09TNTech cites Section 16-2b of the Freedom of Information Act, the privacy exemption, as its basis for withholding identities.
05:17The attached disclosures show rows of professional legal services and payments dating back to 2015, but the attorney name column
05:25has been blacked out.
05:27So, the public can see the expenditure, but not who received it.
05:31Basad says he intends to challenge TNTech's decision.
05:34A pre-action protocol letter is being prepared with judicial review proceedings anticipated if the issue is not resolved.
05:41The dispute, therefore, goes beyond the $33.66 million already disclosed.
05:47It raises a broader question about public access to information.
05:51When a state enterprise spends millions of dollars on professional services, should the public also be entitled to know who
05:58is receiving those payments?
06:00The FOIA records do not by themselves establish any wrongdoing by any of the attorneys or firms named.
06:06What they do show is the scale and breadth of legal expenditure by two state enterprises.
06:13Arvishita Wari Rupnarain, TV6 News.
