$2,000 per week living expenses for Kuei Tung

Former Minister Brian Kuei Tung has been permitted an allowance of $2,000 a week while his assets remain frozen in Trinidad and Tobago and the US. This is one of the terms of the Restraint Order which was secured by the State against the former Finance Minister. The Order states that Kuei Tung can spend $2,000 a week “to meet his ordinary living expenses.” According to the Order, Kuei Tung can also spend $20,000 for legal expenses in connection with the terms of the Order. But, in respect of the payment of this $20,000 fee he has to inform the Director of Public Prosecutions in writing of the source from which these monies are to be paid.

The Order does provide some discretion for Kuei Tung’s  allocation to be increased.  If he needs more pocket money he can go to the DPP who could increase his allotment without resorting to the courts. The role of the DPP is crucial in the application of the Order. According to sources, Kuei Tung, who was served with the Order on Tuesday, has seven days to inform the DPP of the location of all his assets within Trinidad and Tobago. If the asset is cash or credit in a financial institution, it must be paid into an interest bearing account, but information on the account holder, location and account number must be submitted to the DPP within seven days after the interest is paid. According to the Order, Kuei Tung also has 21 days to  transport all his “movable assets” (money) from overseas into Trinidad and Tobago. The action taken in the local courts was followed up by a similar injunction in the US court last Friday which froze Kuei Tung’s assets in Florida. Kuei Tung owns three properties in Florida.

Among other things, the State requested the US court to order certain persons and companies with information about aspects of  Kuei Tung’s financial affairs to give full disclosure. These included Argentum, a Panamanian company with an office in Miami, which, according to documents filed by the State, must give information with respect to its acquisition of a property, a residence at 7150 SW 98th Street, Miami, Florida and the source of the funds used to purchase this property, as well as the ownership of Argentum. The State also asked for a “deposition duces tecum” of Salomon Smith Barney, one of the leading US brokerage firms, indicating the source of the funds transferred to it by Kuei Tung and to where those funds were transferred, if and when Kuei Tung’s brokerage account was liquidated. Also among the documents presented to US authorities were the arrest warrants for Eduardo Hillman and Ronald Birk.