TT: UNC not crooks

FORMER government ministers, key financiers of the United National Congress, the political party itself and several other business people conspired together and allegedly formed ghost companies which collected millions of dollars from the Airports Authority for work not done during the construction of the new Piarco Airport Terminal, and the money gained was then allegedly split among themselves.

This forms the genesis of the new charges laid against eight of the named alleged conspirators who appeared in court yesterday, some of whom are already before the court on other unrelated charges relating to the same project.

Former finance and tourism minister Brian Kuei, his companion Renee Pierre, chairman of Northern Construction Ltd and former Chairman of Tourism and Industrial Development Company (Tidco) Ishwar Galbaransingh, former chairman of the Maritime Financial Group Steve Ferguson, former chairman of the National Insurance Property Development Company Ltd Edward Bayley, financial manager of NCL Amrith Maharaj and former chairmen of the Airports Authority Ameer Edoo and Tyrone Gopee appeared in court in two batches and were all released on bail.

A two-and-a-half year investigation, led by the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau, assisted by a team of forensic accountants, including Canadian Robert Lindquist, allegedly traced the movement of millions of dollars, some of which was used towards the credit card account of Kuei Tung, while a substantial sum was used to purchase properties in Florida.