DANHAI Williams remains a member of the influential inner council of the ruling People’s National Party, a top minister of government confirmed yesterday, after two weeks of evasion by party chairman Robert Pickersgill, another Cabinet minister.

Phillip Paulwell, Member of Parliament for East Kingston and Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, said last night that the businessman and contractor, who is on trial for fraud, remains a National Executive Council (NEC) member.

For two weeks, Pickersgill avoided a direct reponse to Sunday Observer queries about Williams’ status in the party, after sources advised that the businessman had been on the NEC’s roll up to February 2005.

“I really don’t know,” said Pickersgill. “I would have to check…,” the PNP chairman said two weeks ago.

A St Catherine PNP delegate, who had earlier confirmed Williams’ standing, said the party’s officers wanted to ignore the issue, because it was embarrassing, especially after he reneged on a deal with organs of the state.

“A shame de whole a dem shame why everybody pretending dem don’t know say Danhai is a NEC member,” said the delegate.

On Thursday, the party chairman was a bit more forthcoming, but still refused a direct answer.

“I think so,” he said in response to the same query of Williams’ NEC membership. But, again, he added that he would have to check.

Pickersgill’s latter comment came the same day that a lawyer for PNP caretaker, Patrick Roberts, had gone to court to force the police to either charge the record producer or release him.

Pickersgill similarly said he would check whether Roberts was a member of the NEC.

Roberts had run for a parliamentary seat on a PNP ticket in 2003, but lost.

The record producer, along with reputed area leaders for Arnett Gardens, George Phang and his brother Andrew Phang, were taken into police custody Monday night for questioning in relation to escalating violence in the South St Andrew community.

The police released the three men Friday evening without charge, but said they were still under investigation.

Williams has been on trial for two years.

The East Kingston businessman recently hit the spotlight again, this time by going into hiding and reneging on a deal with the Director of Public Prosecutions to testify against accused cops – now acquitted – in the Crawle murder trial.

He was to have testified for the crown in exchange for immunity from prosecution for illegal possession of a firearm, but hid during the trial, surfacing only after the crown had wrapped up its case.

His own trial began October 2003, on charges that he defrauded the NHDC/Operation Pride shelter programme.

Williams, a constituent of Cabinet minister Paulwell, was selected from his group in the East Kingston and Port Royal constituency as the representative to the NEC.

The St Catherine delegate said some in the party who were opposed to the contractor being a member of the party’s second highest decision-making body, but could not remove him as he was placed there by his group.

Only they can remove him from the NEC, aside from Williams voluntarily resigning, said party insiders.

In September, party president PJ Patterson in his address to delegates on the opening day of the 67th annual conference, urged the party and especially the person who will succeed him when he steps down in 2006, to seek to improve the quality of the membership of the party.

Williams, who is charged with six others, is facing 87 counts of fraud. His case resumes March 8.

virtuee@jamaicaobserver.com