TSTT Exempted from Declaring Assets

State-owned Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) telco TSTT has been exempted from having to declare their assets to the country's integrity commission, the Trinidad Guardian quoted a senior TSTT executive as saying.

As the commission has exempted judges and magistrates from filing declarations under the Integrity of Public Life Act, the TSTT board has received a similar exemption, TSTT's legal, regulatory and carrier services vice president Lisa Agard told The Trinidad Guardian.

Agard said legal opinions confirm the exemption for the TSTT board because of the company's ownership structure.

A total of 51% of TSTT's shares are owned by the majority state-owned holding company, National Enterprises Ltd, which is listed on the T&T Stock Exchange, and the remaining 49% is owned by Britain's Cable & Wireless.

"It is not a question of we don't see why we have to file... There is no legal requirement to file, because the members of the board of TSTT do not fall within the preview of the act," Agard said.

NEL appoints five of the nine TSTT board directors, while C&W appoints the remaining four.

Sources told the newspaper that the Cable & Wireless appointed directors were refusing to file declarations to the integrity commission since they were appointed on behalf of the private sector shareholders.

BNamericas.com"

Posted to the site on 14th January 2006