Housing Minister David Lee says that he was caught off-guard by the announcement made by Housing Development Corporation (HDC) chairman Feeroz Khan, that people residing illegally in units across Trinidad and Tobago would be legitimised.

Speaking to the Express via telephone yesterday, Lee said that the first he heard of the regularisation of such persons was in an article in another newspaper on Sunday.

“That is a policy that was taken by this new board and chairman without any discussion with myself as line minister or any of my other ministers. The first time I read it was in the (Sunday newspaper) article,” he said.