Trinidad AG targets former directors of state companies

Trinidad & Tobago Attorney General Anand Ramlogan is promising to file 'one new case' every month against persons implicated in corruption under the former People's National Movement government that was swept out of office in 2010.

Ramlogan announced that legal action has started against the five former directors of the state-owned Evolving Tecknologies and Enterprise Development Company Limited (eTeck) over an alleged TT$30 million (EC$5 million) bad investment.

Ramlogan said that the five board members including the chairman, Professor Ken Julien, have been given the requisite 28 days to respond to the lawsuit.

He said one former board member, Prakash Saith, the brother of former government minister Dr Lenny Saith, was not included in the pre-action protocol letter, since he was recorded as absent in the minutes of the relevant meetings.

Ramlogan said that the probe team including Queen's Counsel Alan Newman and Canadian forensic expert Bob Lindquist, will also be probing several other state boards including the controversial Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago, oil company Petrotrin, and the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago.

"In the coming months, it is my hope that in every single month for the rest of the year, one new case would be commenced arising out of corruption scandals under the previous regime," he said.

The legal action against the former board members of eTecK is an attempt to recover the multi-million dollar payout to Hong Kong-based Bamboo Networks Limited, which was to aid in the development of the local information-technology sector.

The attorney general said the forensic team uncovered what he alleged was a lack of "due diligence" by the board members, leading to the money disappearing "into a black hole".

- CMC