POLICE PROBES HEAT UP

The meeting came amid a day of frenzied police activity, which saw officers visit several locations, including the Urban Development Corporation of TT (Udecott) and the Central Bank, as several investigations progressed.

ACIB head Senior Superintendent Terry Young, along with two detectives, met with Gaspard at his Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain office at 3 pm.

The ACIB officers left at 5.30 pm and headed for the Police Administration Building on Sackville Street, Port-of-Spain, where they briefed Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Gilbert Reyes.

Sources revealed that during the meeting with Gaspard, the ACIB officers asked for legal advice pertaining to probes into Udecott and allegations contained in an affidavit by Jamaat-al- Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr among other matters. (See page 4).

Contacted yesterday, a source at the ACIB told Newsday, “what we discussed with the DPP were sensitive matters relating to probes being undertaken by us and we intend to meet with the DPP again shortly.”

Contacted late yesterday, Reyes told Newsday that as far as he was aware, the ACIB officers simply went to the DPP for advice, and this usually happens when several probes were being undertaken at the same time.

Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert is attending an Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police meeting in St Kitts and is due back in the country tonight.

Newsday understands that late yesterday, ACIB officers prepared a full report on the status of their investigations which they sent to Attorney General John Jeremie.

Earlier in the day, ACIB detectives and officers of the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) returned to the Udecott office on Sackville Street, Port-of-Spain.

They also revisited the office of chartered accountants D Montgomery and Associates where they seized several documents.

At about 4.20 pm, investigators left the accountants’ office on Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, with four boxes containing crucial documents which they hope will be helpful in their investigation.

On Wednesday, police went to the office of Sunway on St Clair Avenue, St Clair, where they took several documents, central processing units and computer hard drives.

These items form part of the ongoing investigations into the award of contracts and alleged financial irregularities at Udecott.

Sunway was the company which Udecott awarded $820 million in contracts for the Ministry of Legal Affairs Tower. It is alleged that two Sunway directors are the brother and brother-in-law of Hart’s wife Sherrine. Police have since determined the authenticity of documents provided to them by the Congress of the People which show a clear link between Sherrine and the two directors.

On March 6, Hart resigned as Udecott chairman, as well as his other chairmanships in five other State boards, after he met with Prime Minister Patrick Manning. The day before, the Attorney General advised Manning Hart may have a charge to face.

When asked by Newsday if the ACIB had made contact with former Udecott executive chairman Calder Hart, the ACIB source maintained that despite repeated calls to two numbers given to them for Hart, he has not been answering. Officers are supposed to interview Hart as part of the ongoing probe. They went to his home in Cascade on Wednesday but were unable to execute a search warrant because no one was at the house.

ACIB investigators also have search warrants for the National Insurance Board (NIB) and the National Insurance Property Development Co (Nipdec) but delayed searching the offices of these state companies because of their meeting with the DPP. They expect to visit NIB and Nipdec soon.

Also joining in the police activity yesterday, were officers from the Fraud Squad who went to the Central Bank and seized documents relating to an inquiry which started four years ago based on allegations made by NH International (Caribbean) Ltd executive chairman Emile Elias.