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MENDOZA: I am a brigand. I live by robbing the rich.
TANNER: (promptly) I am a gentleman. I live by robbing the poor. Shake hands.
George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, 1903.
This interplay reveals the nature of men: one is a gangster bent on restoring “social justice,” the other a lauded exemplar whose words do not translate into actions. This exchange reflects our society today.
The East Port of Spain Development Company Ltd has published its 2018 summary financial statements and its 2019 version on 23 January.
The Company’s business rationale is to develop the physical infrastructure in one of our most depressed regions. Created in 2005, the Company is meant to build box drains and small community facilities. The Company is not designed to undertake transformational work in a region suffering from institutional failure.
Based on the 2005 Survey of Living Conditions (Poverty) study, all areas served by the Company fall into the country’s poorest communities. These households live below the poverty line. More than 80% of the population is listed as African.
In 2010 – 15, the UNC administration had many plans but no action. Karen Bart-Alexander (2005) noted that all Laventille got was the painting of the WASA water tanks on the top of the hills overlooking the community.
The cycle of poverty is perpetuated by the low educational opportunities available. Twenty- nine (29) schools in this region are on the academic watch list of our Ministry of Education. This represents a third of all such listed schools.
Poor homes cannot make the most of the opportunities available to the rest of the country—a reality not limited to the East Port of Spain area.
The Company’s financial reports disclose fraud of $16.6 million by the accountant Solomon Lamb (let us call him Mr Rob D Hood). This sum, stolen over six years, equals 130% of the 2018 government subvention provided to the Company. One man!
In September 2019, the Parliamentary Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) considered this matter. Their Report (pages 10 – 17) exposed the horror story of non-existent financial controls (page 10) and feeble Ministry and Board oversight (pages 15 – 19).
Tellingly, the Company’s bankers failed to verify the withdrawals, providing a weak excuse. Shades of the National Gas Company 2015 fraud!
In the Company’s report to the Parliamentary Committee, it was stated the bank “did not contact the Managing Director to verify any large payments as per the established protocol. The bank explained that the payee made the deposit via another bank, and, therefore, no verification was made to EPOSDCL”.
For four years (2013 – 2018), Mr Rob D Hood, a gentleman, stalled the submission of the accounts. Appendix 4 of the Report purported to represent the Forensic Audit done by a leading local firm.
The contents presented to the Committee do not represent what is expected from a forensic report. The actual report may have been introduced in the court proceedings.
Forensic engagements often require the forensic accountant to quantify a loss. In professional negligence claims, i.e. when another accountant has breached their duty of care to a client, the forensic accountant would also provide an opinion on whether the duty of care owed has been breached.
“Any method of obtaining evidence can be used in a forensic accounting engagement—this is not a limited assurance engagement in which procedures are likely to be restricted to enquiry and analytical procedures. Forensic engagements will include a detailed and wholesale review of all documentation and electronic evidence available.
“The opinion given by the expert accountant must be reasoned and backed up by evidence. Their opinion cannot be objective if only based on what they are told; they must corroborate that information.”
Forensic accountants search for hidden assets, as the infamous Bernie Madoff case demonstrated.
“Forensic accountants, skilled in tracing cash flow, are the professionals best qualified to trace the movement of funds into and out of the offender’s bank accounts. Attorneys often use this cash flow analysis to establish exactly how the offender received and depleted the victims’ funds and determine the total amount stolen.
“Forensic accountants ‘follow the money’—they reconstruct the scheme by obtaining all relevant banking records—checks, deposit slips, and monthly bank statements from the banking institutions where the scammer placed the victims’ funds.
“The bank deposits make each investment a traceable transaction—funds can be tracked from investor to scammer to the scammer’s bank, then back to earlier investors, or into the scammer’s pockets. The accountant then prepares a cash flow statement demonstrating the flow of funds received and disbursed from the scammer’s bank accounts.”
What was the reason for pursuing a civil case, not a criminal one? The standard of proof in a criminal case is beyond reasonable doubt, while it is on the balance of probabilities in a civil case.
While a jury delivers judgment in the criminal case, a judge is responsible for the verdict in civil matters. Did the forensic study not deliver proof beyond reasonable doubt?
The Company is belatedly attempting to blame the speed of the police investigation, but they commissioned a forensic audit and have prominent lawyers.
Should not the product of these resources be provided to the law enforcement personnel? Fraud is difficult to prove, but was the Company well served? We may never know.
How can the public have faith in our exemplars? Will the money be recovered after these six years? Or is it poor people’s money, so why fuss?
In the 2019 Financial Statements, the Notes indicate that “the nature and extent of the assets of the Defendant were ongoing during the period”.
Did the then-political administration (2010 – 15) believe having lax controls for this Company was acceptable? How was it satisfactory to have only three board members, with none being financially literate?
Under the new political administration, why does the current board provide bonuses for senior executives (Note 6 in the financials)?
This stealing evokes little commentary, but we splashed media coverage on Kenneth ‘Spanish’ Rodriguez, a gangster, for the $2 million refurbishment on the October 2013 Duncan Street job. At least, ‘Spanish’ did work.
Shame on us! We shout about crime yet callously abandon the victims of this dastardly crime: the people of East Port of Spain. Everybody else got their money.
Now look at the Caroni Land situation, in which former Senator Clarence Ramhbarat reported 50 fraud cases. Ramhbarat described this as the “largest land transfer ever”, with over 4,000 acres of land handed out to farmers nationwide.
He claimed he was asked to approve a fake deed for a doctor trying to get a $6 million mortgage.
Witness the multimillion fraud cases involving the Estate Management Business Development Company (EMBD)—respectable businessmen are before the courts.
Or listen to the workers. The president of the Sugar Boilers Association asserted: “It has been a blame game between the PNM and UNC while these helpless workers have been caught in the middle. These workers were taken for a ride. And they are still being taken for a ride.”
An unfortunate woman, farmer Sheryl-Anne Rampersad-Sammy, sold a cow to become the owner of land she had occupied for years. She was then seemingly cheated by Commissioner of State Lands employees.
The then-Commissioner did not bother to respond to media inquiries. Utter disrespect!
The Express called upon MP Foster Cummings to explain his possession of a similar parcel of land. The editorial described the moral authority of the Opposition United National Congress as “deeply questionable”.
(Copyright Ministry of Youth Development and National Service)
The reason? The defence by the then Minister of Land and Marine Resources of the land grab by Super Industrial Services Ltd, a company owned by one-time UNC financier Krishna Lalla. His position was “whether it’s State land or not; it is still private business”.
All the gentlemen were wrong. No gangster was involved in these transactions: only upright, exemplary gentlemen.
What about the 2019 demonetisation exercise? Almost $27 billion in shoddy transactions, representing a 2,710% increase over the preceding reporting period, turned up.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIUTT) received 1,831 reports, representing a significant increase of 80% over the previous reporting period. A pastor was caught up in this 2021 situation.
No Laventillian gangster got called in this enormous money laundering escapade. Some outstanding gentlemen were involved. Where did this cash come from?
In June 2023, Inspector Tricia Smith reported that an estimated TT$98 million was lost to fraud and that the trend continues. Property and land fraud had doubled.
(via guardian.co.tt)
This week, the Law Association puts out another warning about unscrupulous gentlemen. The first was seven years ago. Who are the bandits?
Meanwhile, Laventille’s and other impoverished children remain hungry and live in squalor. More anon.
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