CONTROVERSIAL People’s National Movement (PNM) Councillor Dansam Dhansook’s name has surfaced in another “bribery” scandal.

This time, however, Dhansook, who alleged two years ago that he had paid bribes to senior Cabinet ministers, was himself offered a bribe (a senatorial post) by top official of the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) to support the party to regain control of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation.

A deadlock was expected again to elect a chairman of the corporation after the government recently extended the life of the 14 regional corporations for one year.

In a desperate bid to hold on to the chairmanship of the corporation, the UNC reportedly approached Dhansook to support the incumbent chairman Ramlochan Panchoo, according to informed sources.

The corporation is evenly split with both the PNM and UNC having three councillors and two alderman in the eight-member council.

Before the first voting took place on July 21, the UNC tried to get one of the PNM councillors to vote for Panchoo, which would have been done by secret ballot.

This would have ensured a smooth passage for Panchoo to be re-elected by a 5-3 majority vote.

Dhansook was singled out and an offer was made to him to be appointed a senator, but when he was approached, he turned down the offer, a UNC source said.

Responding to reports later that he was asking for a bribe to support Panchoo, Dhansook explained that when he was first offered a senatorial post by the UNC official, he turned it down.

He said the official came back two days later and informed him that he (the official) had changed his mind because Trevor Sudama, who recently returned to the UNC, had to be given preference.

Sources said the UNC man wanted to offer Dhansook $1 million instead but because of Dhansook’s firm stand against taking up the first offer, the official dropped the monetary offer.

Dhansook himself told TnT Mirror no financial offer was made to him.

“I told the UNC man, ‘I don’t trust you fellas. I am not for sale’,” he said. “I am a PNM and I had no intention of giving the UNC any support,” Dhansook added.

When told that the UNC official was going about saying that Dhansook was asking him, “what you have for me?” (implying that Dhansook was probably asking for money to give his vote to Panchoo), the PNM councillor said:

“I have him and a UNC councillor on tape when they visited my office in Rio Claro to discuss the offer.

“When they came to my business place in Rio Claro on two occasions, I put them to sit in a special position to have them on tape from my security surveillance equipment. I can give you pictures to prove that,” he said.

“I do not need their money.

“I have my own business and I am PNM,” he said.

“I am already in a bribery matter with the ministers, so that is why they came to me,” the councillor added.

The first meeting to select a chairman ended in a deadlock on July 21 because there was no clear majority.

Last Wednesday, at another round of voting, the UNC, for the second time in three years, it was successful.

Voting took place along party lines and Panchoo got a second one-year term.

However, his selection was not a popular choice because two of the UNC councillors were not in favour of supporting him but did so because of pressure from a certain UNC official, a source at the corporation said. Present at the corporation for the election, which was presided over by acting House Speaker Hedwidge Bereaux, were UNC Deputy Political Leader Jack Warner, Nariva MP Harry Partap and Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma.

Dhansook headlines last year after he wrote Prime Minister Patrick Manning alleging that he had paid bribes to both Works and Transport Minister Franklin Khan and Energy Minister Eric Williams in exchange for certain favours.

Following police investigations, both ministers were charged with bribery and their cases are now before the courts.

Both have resigned as Cabinet ministers and Khan has stepped down as chairman of the PNM.