Peter Cateau to surrender to cops

PETER CATEAU, client representative for the Ministry of Works and Transport (MWT) for the Piarco Airport Development Project, is to be charged with abuse of public office and other acts of corruption when he returns to Trinidad on Monday. He  will surrender to officers of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday at 11 am. It is alleged that between January 1, 1995 and December 1, 2001, Cateau conspired to obtain contracts and payments or settlements therein for a total face value of up to $1.6 billion. Justice of the Peace, Ackbar Khan, disclosed that Cateau contacted him on Tuesday when he learnt that corruption charges were issued against him, other persons and companies connected to the Piarco Project.

He said Cateau has been in regular communication with him ever since and was not trying to elude the police but has been working on a World Bank assignment in the region. Khan said Cateau will return to Trinidad shortly and will first surrender to him. The JP said he will escort Cateau to the ACB’s headquarters on Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain on Monday and the former MWT client representative will then appear in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court to answer the charges against him. Cateau featured prominently in the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Project which began its sittings at the Caribbean Court of Justice building on Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain on August 23, 2002 and ended on July 1, 2003. The Inquiry was the longest and most expensive in the history of Trinidad and Tobago, lasting a record 170 days and costing taxpayers $15 million.

The Commission was chaired by retired Chief Justice Clinton Bernard and other commissioners were Victor Hart, Marie Ange Knights, Keith Sirju and the late Peter Bynoe. Cateau was one of the more prominent witnesses during the Inquiry, and was questioned at length on  successive days by the Commission’s attorneys and attorneys representing other persons and companies who summoned to appear before the Commission. Cateau was recalled to the witness stand  on several occasions  during the Inquiry to clarify the statements made by several  persons who appeared before the Commission.

The Commission’s report was handed over to President George Maxwell Richards on August 31 but Government took a decision not to publicise the report because of the implications it could have on any future criminal prosecutions.  Assistance was sought from authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom to investigate alleged corruption in the Piarco Project. On January 12, 2004, Newsday reported that arrests arising out of recommendations from that report were imminent.. Meanwhile, a source said that extradition proceedings  are expected to be initiated    for five American businessmen who were  connected to the project if they do not appear voluntarily to answer charges laid against them