Cops probe $4.7M fraud attempt

TWENTY-ONE TSTT employees were questioned by Fraud Squad officers over the weekend in connection with an attempt to effect illegal wire transfers through the company’s bankers.

Fraud Squad officers said yesterday that the employees were questioned following a report made on Friday to the police by TSTT. The report, lodged with the police, involved the attempt to process three illegal wire transfers amounting to $4.7 million. The illegal wire transfers were discovered by the company’s finance personnel on Friday, and stopped before they could be effected. A senior TSTT official told Newsday that police are pursuing the matter and the company could not divulge more on the investigation because it was now at a very sensitive stage. Newsday learnt that the employees who were quizzed about the attempted illegal transfers were also questioned about their role in recent kidnappings throughout the country. Fraud Squad officers said yesterday that they are pursuing the investigation along certain lines and they are hopeful of making a breakthrough shortly.

Officers claimed that they intend to further question a few employees who were already quizzed over the weekend. They added that based on information received, TSTT may have been defrauded in the past through illegal wire transfers and an expert in this field may be called in to assist in the investigation. Newsday learnt that some of the employees who were questioned complained about the intense interrogation by the police. The union has written TSTT protesting the manner in which the investigation has been handled thus far. TSTT is the sole licensed provider of telephone services in Trinidad and Tobago. The company is jointly owned by the Government, which owns 51 percent, and Cable and Wireless, which own 49 percent.