From The Guardian:
Police raid Udecott and Sunway offices
Akile Simon
Published: 25 Mar 2010
Anti-corruption officers conduct investigations at Sunway offices in Port-of-Spain yesterday. Photo: David Wears
Akile Simon
Police investigating allegations of corruption involving state-owned Urban Development Corporation (Udecott) and Sunway raided the offices of the companies yesterday. Officers executed search warrants at Sunway’s St Clair Avenue, St Clair, office; David Montgomery and Chartered Accountants at 118 Gordon and Abercromby Streets, Port-of-Spain; Udecott’s Sackville Street offices and the home of a Udecott director. At the end of the exercises, police seized hundreds of financial, contractual and legal records. They also seized several computers, hard-drives, lap tops, fax machines, photo-copiers and CCTV footage from the offices.
Officers met with Udecott’s chief operations officer (COO) Neelanda Rampaul and informed her they (officers) were there to search for items listed on a warrant.
Among the items seized at Udecott were board meeting minutes, contracts and financial records relating to the company and CH Construction, which is a subsidiary of Sunway. A police source said Rampaul was co-operative during their searches. Police spent more than 10 hours at Udecott’s office. At the time of the searches, Udecott’s new executive chairman Jerlean John was not present. While at the office, officers discovered that most of the company’s financial accounts were undertaken by David Montgomery and Company Chartered Accountants, located at the corner of Gordon and Abercromby Streets, Port-of-Spain. This was the first time the chartered accounting firm’s name surfaced, following corruption allegations involving Udecott, Sunway and CH Construction.
A judicial source told the T&T Guardian a search warrant was signed by acting Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington. Several boxes containing records also were seized from the business place. The accounting firm, police said, dealt with the disbursements of billions of dollars in construction and legal contracts on behalf of Udecott, for several years. Police obtained seven warrants but only four were executed. The warrants were signed by Wellington at his chambers at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court between Tuesday afternoon and yesterday. Senior Supt Terry Young, head of ACIB, who was mandated by Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert to lead the probe, was seen at the offices, including Hart’s home, giving directives to his juniors.
The investigation is being spearheaded by both the ACIB and the Fraud Squad, headed by Young and Senior Supt Harold Phillip. From as early as 4.30 am, 60 officers assigned to the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB), Special Branch, Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) and the Fraud Squad, first went to the Cascade home of former Udecott executive chairman, Calder Hart. However, officers were unable to execute a search warrant because no one answered the bell.
http://guardian.co.tt/news/crime/2010/03/25/police-raid-udecott-and-sunway-offices