- President Santokhi & government ministers under investigation
The Office of the Attorney General has requested a preliminary investigation into a potential corruption case against President Chandrikapersad Santokhi and two of his ministers, including the Finance Minister, Stanley Raghoebarsing.
This follows reports that the government allegedly paid an estimated US$7.5 million to Pan-American Real Estate, a local company, using false documents.
“It is important to emphasise that no one has yet been identified as a suspect,” the Public Prosecution Service said on Wednesday.
The issue first came to light last November when an anonymous whistleblower armed with various documents, filed a criminal complaint with the Attorney General Office.
In January, the whistleblower delivered even more potentially incriminating evidence to the Office of the Attorney general, and the police Anti-Corruption Unit was subsequently given the task of investigating the matter.
During the investigation, several individuals were questioned by the police, including Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk and the two ministers.
The Public Prosecution Service said it has received a police file on the case and on that basis a preliminary judicial investigation has been requested from the examining magistrate.
“After analysing the police investigation results and partly in view of the nature of the case, a preliminary judicial investigation has been requested,” the Public Prosecution Service added.
Santokhi and the two cabinet ministers have told reporters that they are not guilty of any criminal offense and that everything took place in accordance with the current legal accounting rules.
According to the whistleblower, Public Works Minister Riad Nurmohamed submitted falsely prepared documents at the meeting of the Council of Ministers to facilitate the payment to Pan-American Real Estate.
The payment was allegedly blocked twice by Vice President Brunswijk, who presides over the meetings. But the whistleblower is claiming that the minister ultimately bypassed the ministerial meeting and submitted the suspected falsely prepared documents to the meeting of the government council and a meeting of the cabinet chaired by the president.
During that meeting, Santokhi is said to have approved the payment of the amount of approximately US$7.5 million.
Initially, the finance minister had refused to make the payment because he believed that the work carried out by Pan-American Real Estate did not qualify as a public private partnership project as had been suggested.
According to the minister of public works, the former government of Desi Bouterse, had entered into an agreement with Pan-American Real Estate for the construction of houses for low-income groups in 2019 in which the then government had committed to the paving of the roads at a real estate development project of the company.
Nurmohammed said these agreements were allegedly not fulfilled, resulting in the company having to pave the roads itself and was now seeking to recover the funds from the present administration.
Political observers say whether this case will result in prosecution of the president and his two ministers remains to be seen.
Members of government and former political office holders can only be prosecuted by law if they are charged by Parliament at the request of the Attorney General, where President Santoki’s coalition enjoys a majority.
