This man worst than Kamal sister.

[Sam]

HARRY'S $5m TRAVEL
Former HCU president flew to India, UK, USA, Mexico as credit union collapsed
By Joel Julien joel.julien@trinidadexpress.com

Even as the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) faced crippling cash flow problems, its former president Harry Harnarine was paid $5 million to travel around the world, Ernst & Young partner Maria Daniel testified yesterday.

Harnarine travelled to India, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and El Salvador.

The travel allowance formed the lion's share of $7.6 million paid to Harnarine over a period of six years for "president's expenses".

"In most instances we were not provided with supporting documents such as bills and invoices," Daniel said yesterday.

She was giving testimony during the Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the HCU at the Winsure Building, Richmond St, Port of Spain.

Harnarine approved the payments to himself, she said.

These funds were separate and apart from the monthly salary of $50,000 Harnarine was paid.

"The president received the salary of $50,000 from January 2008 for responsibilities relating to HCU and HCU subsidiaries despite the losses and closures to these businesses as well as the critical cash shortages experienced by the HCU," Daniel said.

"I also want to mention that at this point in time February 2008 when the HCU was having difficulties there was also a loan granted for $900,000 for the president," she said.

A relative of Harnarine was also paid an unexplained sum of $242,000 in 2004, Daniel said.

The money was sent via a wire transfer.

In June 2008, Ernst & Young conducted a "due diligence investigation" into the operations of the HCU, Daniel said.

On July 17 the Ernst & Young investigating team were locked out from the offices of the HCU, she said.

When Daniel and her team were eventually allowed back onto the HCU compound to complete their investigations the computer they were using was attacked by a virus and it became difficult to access necessary files.

Daniel said Ernst & Young discovered that despite the HCU having 18 branches and 28 subsidiaries only "one group of people made all the strategic decisions".

Daniel said from 2004 the HCU had "grown by double but the people to manage the business operations were reduced by half".

"It was a quick build-up and a quick fail," she said.

Even if the HCU did not experience a financial run the company was destined to fail because its expenditure was more than its income, Daniel said.

By 2004, "the HCU was already making significant losses", Daniel said.

In May 2008, the HCU board wrote off $197 million worth of loans to its subsidiaries, she said.

Daniel said the "CEO (chief executive officer) had excessive access to the IT (information technology) system which was not usual for a CEO".

"This included editing transactions, posting to the general ledger and changing the access level of users. This creates an environment for things to take place, I am not saying that they did but what it does is it creates an environment where controls are not in place," she said.

"Segregation of duties is important, especially in a financial institution," Daniel said.

Daniel said it was discovered that from January 2003 to January 2004, $1.3 million was paid to Harnarine's credit card for overseas travel.

Ernst & Young were only supplied with receipts totalling $265,000 for that period.

Among the other discrepancies Ernst & Young uncovered were three separate payments made to Harnarine totalling $250,000 in 2006.

There were no vouchers or any explanation provided by HCU's management for the payments, Daniel said.

"It is important to note that by 2007 based on the documents we saw, people could not get their fixed deposits repaid, staff was being rationed as to how their salaries were going to be paid, statutory obligations were not being paid, however $1.6 million was paid to the directors," Daniel said.

Of all the HCU subsidiaries, only Bankers Insurance was viable, Daniel said.

The other subsidiaries were recording losses of $800,000.

The managing director of HCU USA was paid a salary three years after the entity closed down, Daniel said.

The HCU took out an $86 million loan with a bank in the United States for analogue television equipment but the company did not get the relevant licence to operate.

The HCU spent some $5 million for a real estate project called Jogie's Park but no work was done, Daniel said.

A marketing representative with the HCU was also awarded contracts for construction and janitorial services. The contracts were awarded without tender.

The HCU also entered a deal with insurance giant CLICO to have an asset swap valued at $200 million to correct its liquidity issues, Daniel said.

"PAYE (Pay as you earn) deductions were taken from staff but the funds were not remitted," Daniel said.

[vb]

What is get me is that they could find out misspending all over Trinidad.

But when it come to the TTFF it take 30 FOKKING YEARS and a law suit for them to figure out funds are missing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What JW had a obeah man doing the accounts for him.

VB

[Flex]

Harry gets $12M
ANDRE BAGOO (NEWSDAY)
Saturday, May 12 2012

IN JANUARY 2008, when the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) faced collapse, its president Harry Harnarine gave himself a salary of $50,000 to lead a non-existent subsidiary, after benefitting, for the previous six years, from almost $12 million in expenses, stipends, foreign travel and direct payments through HCU subsidiary companies, according to testimony heard at the HCU Commission of Inquiry.

Harnarine racked up a total of $7.6 million in expenses as president during the six-year period, according to Ernst and Young partner Maria Daniel who prepared a statement of affairs (not audit) on the HCU at the request of the State in 2008. The figure covered stipends and foreign travel (which came up on its own to about $5 million).

According to Daniel, in January 2008, it was decided that Harnarine would get a salary of $50,000 to be chairman of several HCU subsidiaries including one called “HCU Financial USA LLC”. However, by that stage, the company no longer existed. Its operations had been discontinued on March 1, 2005.

HCU Financial USA LLC was incorporated on July 21, 2000. However, HCU was of the view that due to Florida laws, the credit union could not own the firm in the United States (US). Ostensibly for this reason, Harnarine and other HCU officials became directors and shareholders of the firm, owning the company on behalf of the HCU. However, Daniel noted, “there was no trust document that said the directors held the shares on behalf of the HCU.” As such, according to evidence, the firm, which sucked at least $3.1 million in direct funding from the HCU in relation to two real estate deals and one “bad transaction”, appears to have been directly owned by Harnarine.

Daniel said there was evidence that in January, 2000, the US outfit suffered a loss of US$150,000 (TT$945,000) on a “bad transaction due to a lack of professionalism”. She said US$156,010 (TT$982,863) was spent by the firm on a property in Miramar, Florida and US$185,000 (TT$1.2 million) on a property at Pembroke Pines, Florida. No board approval was seen.

“It is unclear what happened to the assets of HCU USA,” Daniel told inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Colman at Winsure Building, Port-of-Spain yesterday.

The testimony came on the day when the pumping of millions worth of depositors funds into HCU subsidiaries, related party transactions (including several involving relatives of Harnarine) and a $200 million asset swap deal with Clico were laid bare.

Of the related party transactions, Daniel said the HCU bought a property at a price of $350,000 in 2001 and sold it to Harnarine’s wife for $300,000 in 2007, notwithstanding the largest increase in this country’s real estate prices over the intervening period. The proceeds of the transaction “were not seen”, Daniel also noted. It was alluded to in a memo.

Also there was a purchase of a $430,000 motor vehicle and the Pembroke Pine property for “a relative”. About $968,000 was paid to re-imburse a related party who was hired to solve the problem of the equipment purchased for the media company. The funds were paid to her as reimbursement for travel.

Directors also took on loans which became overdue or delinquent, even when the HCU needed funds most in 2008. (Directors were disqualified from serving in post if loans were delinquent). In February 2008, as he increased his salary in the face of HCU collapse, Harnarine also got a loan for $900,000. Daniel said $86.1 million was pumped into HCU Communications for the acquisition of a broadcast licence which was never obtained and the acquisition of what appeared to be obsolete, analogue equipment.

The equipment was financed at a price of $36.6 million, ($30.3 million of which was owing to a foreign financial institution which had reportedly financed the purchase as at July 2007). The value of this equipment, which was stored at a warehouse without proper insulation, was put at $4.8 million in September 2008. A US lawyer hired to sell the equipment could only get a bid for US$770,000 (TT$4.8 million).

“So the end of this was a licence they did not own, equipment they could not sell and they would have spent $86.1 million,” Daniel said. Another subsidiary, HCU Food Corporation Limited got $35 million. Of this, $9.3 million was invested to acquire the company. Bafflingly, a total of $24.6 million was spent on properties housing the company. Of HCU Impressions and Printing Limited, $5.8 million was spent on “building improvement”. HCU Financial Limited, at one stage, owed $10 million to HCU. The firm was used to pay Harnarine’s and board members salaries. Transworld Travel also owed HCU $4.9 million by 2008.

There were $110 million in construction contracts to “two or three” contractors. The HCU acquired Jovie’s Park and spent $5 million on one cabana at the property which, according to Daniel, is “completely run down”.

There was a $200 million “asset swap” with Clico whereby Clico, in exchange for taking on HCU liabilities (for example some fixed deposits) offered a facility of up to that amount. The facility reached $161 million to $168 million, Daniel said.

There were discrepancies in relation to proper values: an $18 million property in the HCU books was valued at $12 million by Clico’s valuation. In 2004 a $1.4 million property was sold for $350,000. One deed in relation to a $6.5 million property stated the value as $3.5 million.

“It was stated to us that this was done to save stamp duty,” Daniel revealed.

About $5.7 million in taxes, PAYE, NIB, BIR and VAT were overdue by 2008. A Clico mortgage of $35 million was not on the books. A total of $4.1 million in office equipment for HCU branches and subsidiaries had to be written off. One branch, the San Juan branch, was purchased for $2.5 million though valued at $1.4 million. There appeared to be no policy or strategy in relation to asset acquisition, loans, or the subsidiaries.

[Flex]

HCU cash grab
$78m withdrawn from credit union accounts
By Joel Julien (express)

A TOTAL of $78 million in cash was withdrawn from the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) even as its members were unable to access their deposits, Queen's Counsel Edwin Glasgow said yesterday.

No reason was ever found for the purpose for the cash withdrawals by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Glasgow said.

When a liquidator was appointed only a total of $89,000 was found in all of the bank accounts bearing the name of the HCU.

Glasgow, lead counsel to the enquiry, told of the multi-million-dollar cash withdrawals yesterday as he re-examined Ernst & Young partner Maria Daniel during the Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the HCU being held at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street, in Port of Spain.

Glasgow said PwC prepared a "report advising the directors (of the HCU) of the unsatisfactory state of affairs in the number of cashed cheques that were being drawn to cash".

GLASGOW: I was wondering if you were aware that PricewaterhouseCoopers had discovered that a total of $78 million had been written to cash during the period when the members could not be paid?

DANIEL: Yes, I know there was a report done.

GLASGOW: But you did no research yourself as to where that cash went.

DANIEL: No.

GLASGOW: Well perhaps Mr (Harry) Harnarine will be able to help the commissioner with that.

Farid Scoon, attorney for former HCU president Harry Harnarine, yesterday said "the whole board was insulated from cheque writing and that part of the operation".

In June 2008, Ernst & Young conducted a "due diligence investigation" into the operations of the HCU.

Daniel yesterday said a "forensic audit" is needed into the HCU.

"A forensic audit will take it (the investigation into the HCU) into a deeper level. It will be able to substantiate movement of funds that may have taken place. It will go back to bank accounts. At the end of the day cash is fact," Daniel said.

"So a forensic audit will be able to go deeper than we would have been able to," she said.

Following the testimony of Daniel, Ramdath D Rampersad took the witness stand.

Rampersad was appointed liquidator of the HCU on the October 9, 2008.

Both Daniel and Rampersad criticised the HCU's record-keeping.

Senior Counsel Fyard Hosein, the legal representative for the Ministry of Finance, yesterday questioned whether the shoddy record-keeping was "a deliberate attempt to have chaos".

Rampersad was yesterday led into evidence by Senior Counsel Deborah Peake, the attorney representing the liquidator.

Many of the files relating to the approximately 7,000 loans in the HCU could not be located, Rampersad said.

Rampersad yesterday told the enquiry some of the findings he made on July 24, 2008 after he made a preliminary assessment of the HCU's "financial and operational status".

• Only $89,000 was available in all the bank accounts in the name of the HCU.

• $3.1 million owed to the Board of Inland Revenue in respect of PAYE (pay as you earn) and health surcharge.

• $1.6 million owed to the National Insurance Board in respect of contributions deducted from employees' salaries.

• $598,000 in unpaid salaries for HCU employees who were terminated as at 17 July, 2008.

• $191,000 owed in land and building taxes.

• "Substantial amounts" owed to utility providers (TSTT, T&TEC, TTPost and WASA).

• HCU had several loans it was not servicing including:

• $35.2 million loan from CLICO at a rate of 10 per cent per annum.

• US$2.5 million loan from SR Projects Ltd at rate of 12 per cent per annum.

• US$4.8 million loan Eximbank at a rate of 10 per cent per annum.

• $7 million overdraft from Intercommercial Bank at a rate of 15 per cent per annum.

• $3.5 million loan from Intercommercial Bank at a rate of 11.5 per cent.

• US$53 million owed depositors from judgments.

• No audited accounts prepared subsequent to September 30, 2005.

• Over 50 per cent of the loans granted by the HCU were delinquent. This amounted to some $59 million.

• The HCU should not have paid dividends in 2004 and 2005.

• The HCU financial complex is a fire hazard and failed OSHA tests.

• The Regional Corporation cannot locate the file of the HCU multi-million-dollar "megaproject" Pine View. No planning approval.

• Depositors funds were used to buy land in Florida from Harnarine's brother, Seepersad.

• Harnarine's sister reimbursed $34,000 for a trip to Walt Disney.

• $17.5 million paid to Caribbean Airlines deputy chairman Mohan Jaikaran for a television station but rights not transferred.

• $27.9 million paid to HCU marketing personnel Gordon James for construction and janitorial services.

The HCU and CLICO, two of the entities that are the subject of this commission of enquiry, also entered a $200 million asset swap.

The HCU's convention centre was mortgaged to CLICO as part of the transaction.

Sir Anthony Colman, the lone commissioner in the enquiry, labelled the entire transaction as "peculiarly opaque".

Scoon complained that Ernst & Young had been "unfair" in investigation and subsequent report into the HCU.

Harnarine has been given until this morning's session to submit his witness statement to the enquiry

[Football supporter]

The govt need to introduce new laws that fast track corruption cases such as these. They should have the ability to seize all assets from anyone who knowingly removed funds from the company against the interests of the shareholders/policyholders. Basically, the law should go as far as reducing those culprits to bankruptcy and issue long jail sentences. They should introduce an expedition clause that automatically allows govts to order the return of anyone involved in large corruption cases.

These laws should be so severe that these people will know that not just them, but their families will be thrown into poverty. They take the money of hard working people and instead of protecting those peoples dreams, they cynically use their money to live a life of excess.

There needs to be significantly more checks and balances in place to prevent this from happening in the future.

[Flex]

HCU FILES MISSING
Commission of Enquiry attorney: Difficulty in finding documents 'very unsatisfactory'...
By Joel Julien (Express).
Jun 9, 2012.

PERTINENT files containing information about the operations of the failed Hindu Credit Union (HCU), kept at the offices of the Commissioner for Co-operative Development, have gone missing.

This was disclosed yesterday as former commissioner for co-operative development Keith Maharajh took the witness stand at the Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the HCU for the second successive day.

A special Saturday sitting of the enquiry was held at Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port of Spain.

Maharajh said during his tenure there were several files related to the HCU that were kept at the office of the Commissioner for Co-operative Development.

He held the post of Commissioner for Co-operative Development from April 1995 to January 2006.

"There were several files, some files had to be closed because of the bulkiness. I would think that everything that went on with the commissioner's office in relation to the HCU was contained in those files," Maharajh said.

The difficulty in locating the information on the HCU was brought to the fore after several people subpoenaed by the enquiry requested documents from the office of the Commissioner for Co-operative Development which could not be found.

Senior Counsel Reginald Armour yesterday explained that the relocation of the office of the Commissioner for Co-operative Development over the years was in part to blame for the difficulty with the documents being located.

"That process (the relocation of the office of the Commissioner for Co-operative Development) has resulted very unfortunately in a physical dislocation of some of the documents which we continue to ask for and which have not as yet been found," Armour said yesterday.

Armour leads the legal team representing the Commissioner for Co-operative Development at the enquiry.

Armour said the process in trying to find the documents is "still ongoing".

Sir Anthony Colman, the lone commissioner in the enquiry, yesterday questioned how much "confidence" could be placed in the documents submitted so far as evidence in the enquiry.

"What level of confidence can this commission entertain that it has the complete set of relevant documents from the CCD's (Commissioner for Co-operative Development) office?" Colman said.

"The answer must be an incomplete level of confidence and if so there must be presumably a real risk that there are other material documents still unfound and in the possession of the Commissioner (for Co-operative Development)," he said.

Armour said he believed a large portion of the relevant documents had already been found.

"Well I will answer it this way Sir Anthony, if you were to ask me on a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, what is the level of my confidence that the documentation is complete I would say I think we would ascribe a scale of somewhere around eight to nine," Armour said.

"I will say and I say this quite deliberately because I am concerned with of course the fact that this is a public enquiry. I have no criticism of the effort being made by the office of the Commissioner (for Co-operative Development), which I represent, to unearth and to lay their hands on all of the documents which they can conceivably lay their hands on," he said.

"The fact that the physical compilation that is before your commission is less than complete certainly I will not attribute to a lack of effort of the office of the Commissioner."

Queen's Counsel Edwin Glasgow, counsel to the enquiry, described the difficulty in finding the documents as "very surprising and very unsatisfactory".

Maharajh said during his tenure there was "no security" for the files at the office of the Commissioner for Co-operative Development.

Maharajh said when he demitted office in 2006, he did not take a "single piece of paper" and even left his "memories of the place" because he had terrible experiences there.

On Friday Maharajh was chided for having a lax attitude towards numerous letters sent to his office about the HCU under Harry Harnarine's stewardship.

In contrast Glasgow yesterday read several letters in the enquiry which were signed by Maharajh that called for requests from the HCU, including a $30 million increase in their overdraft facility, be handled "ASAP (as soon as possible)".

Maharajh yesterday denied being friends with former HCU president Harnarine but admitted that unlike testimony received by other witnesses, he never received any death threats from Harnarine.

Maharajh was not cross examined by Harnarine's attorney Farid Scoon.

[Football supporter]

This really is an opportunity for T&T to clean up various corporate and regulatory laws. An all party commission needs to be created to put in place certain safeguards. Advice could be sought from USA and UK about their systems (which, I know, aren't foolproof, but are certainly robust.)

Banking laws, Insurance industry laws, corporate accountancy and regulations etc. An ombudsman with far reaching powers and a Business "Zsar" who can access companies bank accounts, computers etc immediately a suspicion arises.

There appears to be a vast sum of money disappearing (and these are just cases that we know of) and its either money taken directly from the public, or indirectly via non payment of taxes etc. And we only see this when a company crashes. How do we know these same things aren't happening in successful companies and government boards? 

There must be political will to achieve such a task, and thats what worries me!

[Flex]

$70m HANDYMAN
How a 'black man' from the 'ghetto' rose to riches at Hindu Credit Union
By Joel Julien (Express).
Jun 13, 2012

HE entered the world of work as a handyman making minimum wage.

Then he met Hindu Credit Union (HCU) president Harry Harnarine.

Now 35-years-old, Gordon James is a multimillionaire businessman.

James's company, Gordon James Construction and Home Repairs Company Ltd, was paid over $70.9 million to complete seven "major building projects" for the HCU.

In 2004, the year after that company was incorporated, James earned $27.9 million from the HCU.

Between 2001 and 2006 the HCU deposited over $17.8 million to James's personal account.

The HCU still owes him over $3.5 million, James claims.

The commission of enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the HCU was yesterday told of James's rags to riches tale.

James yesterday took the witness stand at the enquiry being held at Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port of Spain, after being a no show on Tuesday.

He was represented by attorney Peter Taylor, the former legal affairs minister in the People's National Movement.

James yesterday apologised to Sir Anthony Colman, the lone commissioner to the enquiry, for his absence on Tuesday.

James said the first job he ever had was as a handyman at the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW).

Harnarine was the NUGFW's Industrial Relations Officer in charge of the Southern Division at the time.

When Harnarine was named the HCU's president he recruited James as a "marketing officer" in order to help build the credit union's membership.

James was fired from that job.

In 2002, James formed a company named 2002 Janitorial Services Limited and was hired by the HCU to clean and do maintenance work to their branches and subsidiaries.

That company is no longer in existence.

In 2003, James formed a second company entitled Gordon James Construction and Home Repairs Company Ltd along with his brother Dexter Davis and Kalam Shah Karamath.

He has a certificate in landscaping from the University of the West Indies.

By August 2003, they landed a contract valued at more than $18 million from the HCU.

James described the company as a "consortium" and said its accounts were a "clearing house" for the other businesses in group.

Between the period June 1, 2003 and May 9, 2005 Gordon James Construction was paid: $5.6 million for work at HCU's Jovi Water Park; $5.8 million for work at Shakti Foods; $18.69 million for work at the Food Corporation; $17.79 million for work at the Printing Press; $17.5 million for work at the Freeport Multipurpose Centre and $5.8 million at Orange Field.

James said HCU's Jovi Water Park was his idea and said he intended it to become a local Disneyland.

He told of his visits to Disneyland, Six Flags Great Adventure and Atlantic City so that he could make his dream of the park come to fruition.

Questioned by Stuart Young, the legal representative for Ernst and Young, James said he did not pay Corporation Taxes because he is a "small contractor".

Senior Counsel Deborah Peake told James, her client HCU liquidator Ramdath D Rampersad, was having problems renting the buildings because they were substandard.

Farid Scoon, the attorney for Harnarine, yesterday said the difficulties James faced were because he was a "black man" from the "ghetto" who had succeeded.

"You were like the head black man and people were surprised that you were a black man controlling all that money. $70 million a black man? A black man eat ah food," Scoon said.

James said he faced difficulties at the HCU because people were wondering if Harnarine was trying to "douglarise" the credit union.

Scoon read a document, taken from the Commissioner of Co-operative Development bundle, called "Indian time come" which stated "the unspoken policy in the HCU is to make money off of stupid n***ers".

Peake objected to Scoon's statement and called it both "irrelevant and offensive" and said it was "very unfortunate" that the "racial references were being made at the enquiry".

Scoon said the issue of race caused the financial run on the HCU and its eventual collapse.

Scoon described James as a "master builder who earned the food that he ate".

The enquiry continues today.


MADE MILLIONS: Businessman Gordon James at yesterday's sitting of the Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and HCU at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port of Spain. —Photo: ANISTO ALVES

[Football supporter]

"HE entered the world of work as a handyman making minimum wage. Scoon described James as a "master builder who earned the food that he ate".

Its incredible what is going on here. You couldn't make it up!

[weary1969]

"HE entered the world of work as a handyman making minimum wage. Scoon described James as a "master builder who earned the food that he ate".

Its incredible what is going on here. You couldn't make it up!

ENTTTTT

[Flex]

$17 M MIAMI LIFE
By Andre Bagoo Saturday
June 16 2012

FORMER Hindu Credit Union (HCU) president Harry Harnarine reportedly holds $17 million in real estate at Miami, Florida, according to a report of the State-appointed liquidator of the HCU Dave Rampersad which has been submitted to the Colman Inquiry.

At least ten properties were, as at 2008, identified by the liquidator as being held on behalf of Harnarine. These properties include real estate at Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach, Pembroke Pines, Miramar and Margate. The properties list Harnarine and his relatives, including wife, sister and in-laws, as owners, according to Rampersad’s report which has been obtained by Newsday.

“During the short time I have been the provisional liquidator, I have had approaches from numerous persons who are willing to provide information of some sort or the other,” Rampersad writes in a letter dated August 8, 2008, addressed to the Commissioner for Cooperative Development Charles Mitchell, the credit union regulator. “In fact, detailed information has been sent to my office with regard to assets allegedly held overseas by Mr Harry Harnarine.”

At the Colman Inquiry at Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Harnarine’s lawyer Farid Scoon said the issue of the acquisition of real estate in Florida was one of three main areas of allegations being made against his client in the proceedings.

On Thursday, Sanatan Maha Sabha secretary general Sat Maharaj alleged that the Maha Sabha withdrew its support from the HCU because it was receiving reports of Harnarine acquiring properties in Miami. Maharaj said he conducted searches and found several properties had been bought by Harnarine. This information, he said, was forwarded to the State agencies now overlooking the HCU.

Contacted last night, however, Harnarine said he does not own a single property in Miami. While the liquidator has linked ten properties to him, he said he owned only one property in Miramar, Miami which was sold in 2006. HCU funds were not used to acquire this or any other property, he said.

“I own no property whatsoever in Miami,” he said. “I came from a very wealthy family. I have never taken money from the HCU. Take money from the HCU to do what? I don’t know why people are making this judgement on me I work in the bank, the trade union movement. They feel if an Indian make anything they have to cut back. People not giving me a fair chance. Honestly I am excited to testify next month.”

Of Maharaj’s claim to finding information about Miami properties, Harnarine said, “He just type my name and my wife name and a series of names in a database of people owning properties. I own one property in Florida I bought that from Clico and sold it in 2006. It was in Miramar and was in my sister’s name and my name.”

A non-audit report by Ernst & Young, however, appears to corroborate the liquidator’s report to some extent.

The Ernst & Young report found that the HCU formed several HCU subsidiaries, often without the approval of the Commissioner for Cooperative Development, and had, under Harnarine, acquired properties in Miami using shareholder funds.

In identifying the reasons for the HCU “distress” in 2004, the report notes that properties were acquired in Florida via HCU Financial Company (USA) LLC (originally called Mediaco LLC). The company’s shareholders were three HCU directors, including Harnarine. There was no trust document linking the firm to the HCU, meaning anything the US company owned was effectively owned by the shareholders.

“It appeared that HCU USA purchased a property in Miramar, Florida, at a cost of US$156,010,” the report, also submitted to the Colman Inquiry, found. “This was purchased as a rental property. However, there was uncertainty over the ‘true’ registered owner of this property.”

Also, “There was a second property which based on file correspondence was purchased in Pembroke Pines, Florida for US$185,000 in 2004. The property was owned by a related party.”

The report noted further that, “No board approvals nor property valuation were seen for this purchase. Furthermore, the property was not disclosed in the HCU Financial LLC financial statements for the years ended September 2004 or 2005. Evidence of wire transfers was seen from HCU to lawyers for at least part of the payment for this property.”

The Ernst & Young report notes it is unclear what has happened to the assets of the Miami outfit.

“It was also unclear what happened to the assets of HCU USA and what arrangements were made to have these assets liquidated and returned to the HCU upon closure,” the E&Y report noted. “Based on discussions with HCU’s legal counsel in Florida, HCU was said to have no direct rights to HCU USA’s assets in Florida.”

The Inquiry has heard evidence of a $220,000 trip to Florida, including two stops at Walt Disney World, in 2003 by Harnarine. Among the bills Harnarine’s sister Homawatie Harnarine (also known as Pamela Harnarine) submitted to the inquiry in relation to this trip were several bills for hotel stays. One such invoice lists Harry Harnarine’s billing address as “542 Southwest 127th Avenue, Miramar, FL 33027.” Harnarine is due to testify, and be cross-examined, at the inquiry next month.

[Flex]

HARRY REVEALED
By ANDRE BAGOO Wednesday, July 11 2012
T&T Newsday

AT PRECISELY 9.37 am yesterday, wearing a dark suit, a silver and turquoise ring and sporting a fresh haircut, former Hindu Credit Union (HCU) president Harry Harnarine took the stand at the Colman Inquiry to begin the defense of his stewardship at the collapsed institution.

Holding up the Bhagavad Gita, Harnarine swore to tell the Inquiry, “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” He sat in the witness box and began.

Harnarine who still believes he is president of the credit union which has been wound up, said he is not to blame for the collapse, which resulted in thousands of depositors losing their life savings and in some cases, their lives as they were unable to access funds for medical reasons. The collapse was caused, he said, by a run on the institution which was the result of a “witch hunt” against him, orchestrated in the years leading up to 2008, by Anand Ramlogan, now Attorney General, Devant Maharaj, the current Minister of Food Production and Sat Maharaj, secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS).

While hundreds of hours of oral evidence at the inquiry, as well as thousands of pages of documents, have painted a dire picture of Harnarine’s stewardship, he through his attorney Farid Scoon, said the case against him comprises, “lies and untruths.” Scoon said Harnarine had been “demonised” in the press.

“A lot has been said about you in these proceedings that you consider to be falsely said,” Scoon said at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain, as he led his client’s evidence into the record. “You complain of allegations which you consider to be lies and untruths. I want us to enter into a personal arrangement in these proceedings that you will not tell an untruth.”

“I give that commitment because of the oath that I have taken. I will not tell an untruth,” Harnarine said. He said he was not friends with the press and this was something of concern to him, because of the suffering of his children.

“I am no friend of the press. At this point in time, while I can handle myself, what is very hard for me is my children, aged three to 21, in terms of the humiliation they have to face at school due to reports in the press.

They have really demonised me but I am strong and I continue to fight it on behalf of the HCU. You can destroy the outside of a man but you cannot destroy the inside...his ability to speak.” At one stage, Harnarine piously expressed gratitude for an opportunity to give his side of the story saying, “thank God for this inquiry.” Whenever Harnarine gesticulated with his left hand, it was plain to see that his ring finger appeared to have been cut off.

And while he accused others of lying on him, Harnarine was himself accused of “misleading” the inquiry and making false statements by Deborah Peake SC, attorney for the HCU liquidator. In stark contrast to Harnarine’s testimony, she painted a picture of unlawful conduct and, in one instance, said HCU shareholders paid $1 million for a foreign used car purchased from Harnarine’s wife Roma Maharaj. During testimony in which he sometimes appeared stressed, Harnarine alleged he had ‘bad-blood’ with persons in the past because he opened up the HCU to non-Hindus. And this past, had now come back to haunt him.

“Probably it’s my Karma that I am faced with a situation where the UNC put a witch-hunt on me. They put Sat Maharaj on me,” he said. But Harnarine’s woes go deeper than Karma. Harnarine said he now faces bankruptcy due to a court action he linked to Afra Raymond, a chartered surveyor.

“Today I am facing a bankruptcy order,” he said. “Any day now I am going to be bankrupt.”

Though facing bankruptcy, Harnarine boasted that he has $9 million deposited at the HCU and had “personally” funded the HCU’s $3 million acquisition of Banker’s Insurance, one of its few profitable arms. He sought to demonstrate to the inquiry that he did not take up the presidency of the HCU in 1998 as a poor person.

In the process, Harnarine showed many faces at various points noting he has been: a banker; trade unionist; politician; entrepreneur; philanthropist and now a family man and law student.

“Right now I am sleeping and waking HCU,” Harnarine said. “I am defending all sorts of litigation and at the same time pursuing a career in law as well.”

Harnarine said under his tenure, which lasted nominally from 1998 to 2008, HCU shareholdings grew from $7.5 million in 1997 to $550 million in 2002.

At the same time, he made a major concession: agreeing that the HCU’s subsidiaries, set up without regulator approval and in contravention of its bye-laws, were perhaps not good ways of providing service to shareholders.

“The credit union might not have been the correct vehicle,” he said. In another major concession, he admitted the credit union did not comply with international standards. “We were not acting according to the Pearl standards, I want to admit that,” he said. But in his mind none of these factors, which effectively meant the credit union was ill-prepared to meet basic obligations, eclipsed social and political reasons for the collapse.

Harnarine said in relation to the HCU he was inspired by Clico. Later, he said the Hindu community was not happy with his decision to open the credit union.

“The Hindu leaders were not happy with my relationship between Muslim brothers and non-Hindu brothers,” he said. “They were saying, ‘he give creole and niggers money and was financing Muslims’,” Harnarine said. He claimed that East Indians had abandoned him.

“I am really lucky with Africans. All East Indian lawyers I work with, none of them stand up with me,” Harnarine said. In addition to race, Harnarine said politics played a huge part in his downfall.

He called on AG Ramlogan and other politicians such as former Prime Minister Patrick Manning (who is being treated in the US for a stroke) to be brought to testify. “I would have thought that this inquiry would have investigated these issues (the politics). I really thought some of these people would be a part of the inquiry. I may have to renew my party card,” Harnarine said, adding that he played a key part in the formation of the Congress of the People (COP).

He said he met with Winston Dookeran, now Minister of Foreign Affairs and Manohar Ramsaran at Charlieville in 2006, when Dookeran and former UNC political leader Basdeo Panday were still engaged in political battle over the UNC. Harnarine said Panday called for the formation of a new party in order to better be able to “deal” with Dookeran.

“Mr Dookeran told me, ‘I will form this party but I have no money’,” Harnarine said. Dookeran would later form the COP. But by the 2007 election things went sour when a HCU radio station became involved in spreading a report in relation to Ramlogan, alleging bestiality with a goat. When Harnarine fell out with the COP, all hell broke loose. “The vengeance came down on me,” he said.

Harnarine claimed Ramlogan, once a COP member but now a UNC Cabinet minister, turned against him. He said of about 22 levies against the HCU in the year of collapse in 2008, 90 percent were done by Ramlogan.

In one instance, Harnarine claimed that Ramlogan said via telephone: “Allyuh say I was with a goat!” To which, Harnarine responded: “You can’t blame me for the goat scandal.” Ramlogan, he said, then replied: “I am going to levy everything...computers, software, everything!” Ramlogan, Harnarine implied, also did shoddy work on transactions which caused the credit union $40 million in losses.

He said Devant Maharaj, Sat Maharaj and Ramlogan and the former Commissioner for Cooperative Development Charles Mitchell all entered “a conspiracy” to trigger a run on the HCU. And that was the end. “Nothing could stop a run,” Harnarine said.

In relation to PNM politicians, Harnarine said that before 2007, he approached former Prime Minister Patrick Manning. “It was the end of the line,” Harnarine said. “We were looking for nothing more than $71 million,” he said. Two options were offered.

“One option was to work with Mr Calder Hart in Udecott,” Harnarine said, without elaborating. Then Minister of Finance Karen Nunez-Tesheira had another option: a $300 million lien on HCU assets. He said the minister insisted on an audit, saying: “Harry, there is too much mud on you. We must do an audit.”

Harnarine, however, appeared to go behind the back of the Minister and came up with his own divestment plan. Ernst and Young, he said, later made a presentation to the Ministry of Finance.

“The same night I got a telephone call from Mrs Nunez-Tesheira saying, ‘we got a report on you. You are now on your own. Go back to the Commissioner for Cooperative Development’,” Harnarine said.

The former HCU president said when the State moved in to seize HCU assets in 2008, there was violence at HCU headquarters in Chaguanas. “It had gunplay between HCU Security Services Limited and them. This was not a civilised hand-over like Clico.”

He said Mitchell worked with the Amalgamated Security firm and there was a shootout at the back of the building. “The Commissioner of Police had to call me and ask what is going on with the security firm,” he said. “They took all the guns. At the time we had a bunker. I called a cease fire,” Harnarine said.

Harnarine questioned why former Commissioner for Cooperative Development Keith Maharaj did not speak loudly in defence of the HCU, when he testified earlier this year. “He might not have had the courage and blessings of God to stand up against these men here,” Harnarine said. He said the inquiry has not seen key persons testify such as businessman Mohan Jaikaran who was paid millions for a media company for a deal which never got final approvals.

“I thought Jaikaran would have been one of the persons taking the stand too. But he is probably prevented by the State,” he said. “Everybody protecting everybody. It is a society and class problem.”

Harnarine even took a swipe at counsel to the inquiry Gerald Ramdeen, saying he (Ramdeen) was, “a very insecure man”. He said Ramdeen’s wife Sangeeta, worked for the HCU for four years. as Harnarine sought to address evidence in the inquiry of $17 million in Miami properties, held on his behalf, he attempted to produce a list of search results for properties listed in databases in the names of inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Colman and another inquiry counsel Edwin Glasgow QC.

It was at this stage of the day’s proceedings that Deborah Peake SC, attorney for the HCU liquidator, made an intervention. “We have had to sit through this for the entire morning,” she said. “We have had to listen to totally unacceptable allegations which are slanderous. If your counsel does not stop you, I will. I have a duty to stop you!”

HARNARINE: I believe it have a chairman!

PEAKE: Yes and I am counsel making a submission before that chairman.

HARNARINE: I disagree with you but if he asks me to stop, I will stop.

SIR ANTHONY: Okay, well am stopping you there.

[Jah Gol]

But by the 2007 election things went sour when a HCU radio station became involved in spreading a report in relation to Ramlogan, alleging bestiality with a goat. When Harnarine fell out with the COP, all hell broke loose. “The vengeance came down on me,” he said.

Harnarine claimed Ramlogan, once a COP member but now a UNC Cabinet minister, turned against him. He said of about 22 levies against the HCU in the year of collapse in 2008, 90 percent were done by Ramlogan.

In one instance, Harnarine claimed that Ramlogan said via telephone: “Allyuh say I was with a goat!” To which, Harnarine responded: “You can’t blame me for the goat scandal.” Ramlogan, he said, then replied: “I am going to levy everything...computers, software, everything!” Ramlogan, Harnarine implied, also did shoddy work on transactions which caused the credit union $40 million in losses.

wth , all that ?

[lefty]

But by the 2007 election things went sour when a HCU radio station became involved in spreading a report in relation to Ramlogan, alleging bestiality with a goat. When Harnarine fell out with the COP, all hell broke loose. “The vengeance came down on me,” he said.

Harnarine claimed Ramlogan, once a COP member but now a UNC Cabinet minister, turned against him. He said of about 22 levies against the HCU in the year of collapse in 2008, 90 percent were done by Ramlogan.

In one instance, Harnarine claimed that Ramlogan said via telephone: “Allyuh say I was with a goat!” To which, Harnarine responded: “You can’t blame me for the goat scandal.” Ramlogan, he said, then replied: “I am going to levy everything...computers, software, everything!” Ramlogan, Harnarine implied, also did shoddy work on transactions which caused the credit union $40 million in losses.

wth , all that ?

never a dull moment...........SMH.............meeheh ehehehe ehee

[Sando]

GLASGOW QC: HARNARINE MADE AN ASS OF HIMSELF
By ANDRE BAGOO Friday, July 13 2012
T&T Newsday

WHEN Edwin Glasgow QC began his cross-examination of Harry Harnarine, 50, yesterday afternoon at Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain, he spoke in calm and cool tones, his strong British accent clear.

Glasgow, a barrister for the last 43 years, has developed a reputation over the course of the hearings for not mincing words, and putting witnesses under heat with his silky smooth cross-examination.

But yesterday, the counsel for the Colman Inquiry into the collapse of the Hindu Credit Union (HCU), did something not even those familiar with his cross-examination style might have expected. He called Harnarine an ass. Or rather, he said Harry Harnarine had made an ass of himself in testifying at the inquiry.

“An ass: a fool,” Glasgow, 67, said, adding clarification.

No wonder, perhaps, Chambers and Partners, the decades-old guide to the legal profession, once said of Glasgow: “fearsome cross-examinations....he is the one to wheel out when a witness is being awkward”.

The incident came on what was arguably an embarrassing day for Harnarine who, under cross-examination by several attorneys, admitted to: hatching a nefarious political plot to oust Winston Dookeran in 2006, “inveigling” persons to back the HCU via deception and, in the case of Glasgow’s cross-examination, not knowing what the acronym for PEARLS – a key financial monitoring standard for credit unions which he attested knowledge of – stood for.

Just minutes after 3 o’clock, Glasgow cross-examined Harnarine over the PEARLS standard (the acronym stands for Protection; Effective financial structure; Asset quality; Rates of return and costs; Liquidity; and Signs of growth). As inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Colman, 74, looked on, Glasgow asked Harnarine if he knew what PEARLS stood for.

“I cannot say,” Harnarine said. “I mean I know what the system requires in terms of (the ratio of lending to assets) and so on. But in terms of what the acronym stood for I do not want to mislead.” This week, Harnarine has admitted the HCU did not comply with PEARLS, which is a standard set of ratios or indicators that help the analysis of the financial health of credit unions. Harnarine yesterday said HCU rejected PEARLS under his watch because it did not conform to “our culture.”

Glasgow tried to move on with his cross-examination, but found Harnarine garrulous. At one stage he told Harnarine, “you’ve just made that totally irrelevant speech because you did not know what the industry standard stood for.” Harnarine accused Glasgow of sarcasm, and making personal attacks.

“I feel we should move away from this way of doing things,” Harnarine said.

“No Mr Harnarine, it was not sarcasm. Then again I understand your embarrassment to know that you’ve just made an ass of yourself,” Glasgow replied.

HARNARINE: “Did I hear properly? Did you just say I made an ass of myself?”

GLASGOW: “An ass, a fool.”

HARNARINE: “Chairman, I demand an apology! I am not to sit here to take insult. This is very insulting. It is not massa day. Mr Chairman I will call upon you. I respect you. But Mr Glasgow is losing his objectivity. He is losing his balance and I have tried my best to cooperate with this inquiry and answer to the best of my ability, and I will not have him saying I am making an ass of myself. I take serious objection to that!”

SIR ANTHONY: “Very well, let’s hear the next question.”

GLASGOW: “Let’s now turn to page eleven –”

HARNARINE: “Mr Chairman, again. I am saying I demand an apology. I did not disrespect Mr Glasgow. How can he tell me I am making an ass of myself?”

GLASGOW: “Mr Harnarine, can I just remind you that what you just said was you did not know what the industry standards were, and I suggested to you that that was embarrassing, and that was what you were playing around..”

HARNARINE: “No Mr Glasgow! With all due respect you also asked (earlier) what cause us to invest in the company. I think that when you ask a question I should be allowed to explain.”

GLASGOW: “I hope it was not inappropriate to suggest that it was embarrassing for you.”

HARNARINE: “No. I am saying that saying I am making an ass of myself is an insult. How could I feel comfortable in this inquiry? How can I cooperate? You feel you can do this because you are British and I am an East Indian?”

SIR ANTHONY: “The four-legged reference was yours.”

GLASGOW: “Mr Harnarine, I did say in light of the evidence you gave (and your ) embarrassment (you were) making an ass yourself. If that caused any offence I am sorry. Let it be for others to judge, when they hear your evidence.”

HARNARINE: “Is this what this inquiry is really about?”

GLASGOW: “Perhaps you didn’t hear what I said – ”

Stuart Young, attorney for Ernst and Young, made an application to Sir Anthony to suspend the inquiry for a few minutes to cool.

“Mr Chairman, might I suggest that now would be a good time to take a break and let the temperature cool a little bit,” Young said. Colman replied, “I think that is a good suggestion.
”
After the break, Harnarine, appeared to make a volte-face.

“I just want to put on record that it is only because of the amount of money the State is spending on this inquiry, I am prepared to let bygones be bygones, and I will cooperate with this inquiry,” Harnarine said.

But even after the former HCU president made his assurance that bygones would be bygones, tempers flared now and then when things got hot.

At one stage after the resumption of sitting, Glasgow, dissatisfied with an answer he got, told Harnarine he was not trying to trick him.

“It doesn’t matter,” Harnarine retorted. “I will expect anything from you from now on.”

But Harnarine was not the only person Glasgow sparred with yesterday.
Sophia Chote SC, attorney for ex-regulator Keith Maharaj, yesterday sort to correct an error Glasgow made in cross-examining Harnarine. Glasgow put to Harnarine that Maharaj said staff of the HCU had hijacked meetings of shareholders (for which minutes failed to record the number of persons in attendance). But Chote attempted to point out that Maharaj had not said that in the inquiry, but rather the claims were made in an anonymous letter which Maharaj, when confronted with it at the inquiry, was not in a position to contradict.

Chote made an objection and Glasgow began to address it. As Chote’s junior, Michelle Solomon, was conferring with Chote, Glasgow told Chote, “would you please stop talking.”

CHOTE: “I’m sorry, but my junior is entitled to speak to me.”

SIR ANTHONY: “I’m instructing you to stop talking too.”

Glasgow continued quoting from the anonymous letter (which Maharaj did not say he wrote). Chote sought again to object. In response Sir Anthony, who has previously complained at the inquiry of not being able to hear due to noise levels in the room, said, “You can come in later.”

Glasgow then chided Chote, saying, “

I do wish my learned friend would listen, and please not interrupt in future before doing so.” The exchange raised some eyebrows at the bar.

Earlier in yesterday’s sitting Glasgow criticised Harnarine for gratuitously making scandalous allegations. He noted Harnarine, on Tuesday, in denying reports of holding properties in Miami, attempted to say the chairman and Glasgow owned 150 and 50 properties there too, according to search results from a database of names.

“Both our wives are wondering what we are doing with the other properties,” he said. “The media thought it okay to report what you gratuitously said.” Glasgow accused Harnarine’s attorney, Farid Scoon, of “shouting to the press so they could not fail to hear” during the course of the inquiry in relation to claims about Harnarine’s still unexplained high income flows.

Harnarine lashed back, saying while $5.9 million in journal entries were posted to his account (the figure is what has been recovered thus far, lawyers have said) he never got that amount of money.

“I have never lived in any upscale area,” Harnarine said. “I have always lived in the countryside in Chaguanas. I have business and I have a successful insurance agency.

Five million over ten years, that is less than $1 million a year.”

Glasgow asked Harnarine about the persons who lost their money. Harnarine said none has lost their money because the State has agreed to foot the bill.

“I think you are from a foreign country and you do not know about our Parliament and the Appropriation Bill (that authorised the HCU ‘bailout’). You did not say anything about the cost of this inquiry and what you are being paid,” Harnarine said. “Maybe you should practice in Trinidad and Tobago.”
“I don’t think they would allow me to practice in Trinidad,” Glasgow said.

[Dutty]

interesting little skirmish

sooo nobody from the HCU does refer to themself as a trinidadian??

[lefty]

interesting little skirmish

sooo nobody from the HCU does refer to themself as a trinidadian??

and this surprises u why...........exactly

[Football supporter]

Actually, the best part of this exchange was when Glasgow was questioning the number of members at Special Meetings where major resoloutions were passed. At one such meeting the minutes stated that 201 members attended. Harnarine said the number was taken at the start of the meeting and that more people arrived later. Glasgow said that no additional mention was made of any more of the 50,000 members attending.

At that point, Scoon, rushed to his clients defence and said the minutes showed that 305 members voted for a motion. And Glasgow went straight for the throat and said to Harnarine that out of 201 members who officially attended, 305 voted with the chairman.

Slam dunk!!

[congo]

Could somebody provide me with a map to the Independent Republic of East India? I hear they have great tasting mangoes.  

[Flex]

Karen denies secret meeting with Harry
By ANDRE BAGOO Saturday, July 14 2012

FORMER Finance Minister in the then PNM government, Karen Nunez-Tesheira, will return to the Colman Inquiry in September to give further evidence in relation to the failure of the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) and also to deny claims made this week by former HCU president Harry Harnarine.

Newsday understands Nunez-Tesheira has volunteered a witness statement to the inquiry in which she denies holding any secret, informal meeting with Harnarine in 2008 when he was on the verge of courting the state for a bailout of the ill-fated credit union.

The former finance minister had in March, been expected to testify at the HCU portion of the inquiry this week. However, she was subsequently not announced as a witness when the schedule for the eighth evidence hearing, which ended yesterday, was unveiled.

But inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Colman yesterday confirmed Nunez-Tesheira would testify at an additional three-day phase of the inquiry on the HCU in September. Sir Anthony said he has seen it fit to add the additional phase to the proceedings in light of further evidence received this week, including Nunez-Tesheira’s statement.

“Until this evidence hearing, it had been my intention to complete the HCU portion of this inquiry by the end of today,” Sir Anthony said. “However, upon reconsideration of the evidence and the further evidence that has come forward over the last few days....I’ve decided to allot more time to hearing further evidence as it relates to the HCU.”

The ninth evidence hearing will run from September 19 to September 21. The addition of another phase pushes the Clico portion of the inquiry to October.

It is understood Nunez-Tesheira is to testify alongside other witnesses including: Madan Ramnarine and Chanka Seetaram, two former HCU auditors, as well as Robert Nandlal, who has been identified as the head of a group of HCU shareholders and depositors. This week, Harnarine told the inquiry he held informal meetings with Nunez-Tesheira in a private, political capacity, in addition to later formal meetings documented by the Ministry of Finance.

Additionally, he claimed Nunez-Tesheira pledged a $71 million loan to the HCU. Lawyers for the Ministry of Finance produced correspondence in which the claim was flatly denied by public servants. Former public servants who testified at the inquiry also denied any knowledge of Harnarine’s claims.

In a draft witness statement, Nunez-Tesheira corroborates accounts given by the Ministry of Finance this week of formal meetings held between herself in her former capacity as a minister and Harnarine. She does not admit to attending further meetings outside those recorded by the ministry.

In her draft statement, the former Finance Minister also denies Harnarine’s claim of Ernst and Young making a presentation to the Cabinet on July 19, 2008, on the status of assets at the HCU. Instead, she says the firm made a presentation to the State on July 9, 2008, and not on July 19, 2008, as claimed by Harnarine. The difference in dates is crucial given some of Harnarine’s claims, most of which have not been put to witnesses who testified earlier at the inquiry.

Harnarine, in alleging a political conspiracy against the HCU, said Ernst and Young were hand- picked by Nunez-Tesheira and the PNM Cabinet to run an inquiry.

Ernst and Young, as well as the Ministry of Finance and the office of the Commissioner for Cooperative Development (CCD) have denied this claim noting the firm was hired to do a statutory inquiry by the CCD after a tender process conducted by the Ministry of Labour. Harnarine had claimed after he approached the State for financial assistance for the HCU, Nunez-Tesheira called him on the night of July 18, 2008, and told him he was “on his own”.

The next day, Harnarine claimed, he was accidentally invited to a meeting at Ministry of Finance where, he claims, Ernst and Young was making a presentation. However Ernst and Young has said it made a presentation on July 9, 2008, pursuant to a request for information from the Ministry of Finance in light of Harnarine’s own request for the State to purchase HCU assets to prevent its collapse.

Furthermore, public servants from the Ministry of Finance this week told the inquiry Nunez- Tesheira dropped the idea of purchasing assets of the HCU when it emerged that the assets being offered were encumbered and that Harnarine was being “less than forthright.”

Newsday also understands the inquiry has moved to issue an invitation to former Minister in the Ministry of Finance Conrad Enill to attend the inquiry. However, Enill yesterday told Newsday there is no need for him to give evidence.

“That portfolio was presented to somebody else in 2007,” he said. “I don’t see why I would be approached. The people who have testified are the appropriate officers to address questions to.”

Harnarine has called on the inquiry to examine Enill’s role in a supposed run on the HCU after Enill made public comments about the HCU. The remarks, at the time in 2006, triggered protests at Balisier House, headquarters of the PNM.

While political issues have emerged at the proceedings thus far, in relation to both the current and past administration, Colman yesterday made clear that it is not his intention to examine the political aspects of certain parts of the evidence before him.

In relation to Harnarine’s call for an examination of the present Government’s HCU bailout plan, Colman said, “the position is that given the terms of reference I am concerned with an investigation into why what happened did happen and what recommendations should be made to prevent that happening again and to point the finger at suspected guilt. I am not concerned with policy. That is something within the political arena and not part of my investigative function at all.”