(Trinidad Express) Former head of the Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT) Brigadier Peter Joseph was dismissed because of his non-performance, which saw the increase in crime.
He also presided over financial irregularities and corruption, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said in Parliament at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, yesterday.
Ramlogan said Joseph continued to be dishonest even after he left SAUTT, with him continuing to use a vehicle that was bought for official use.
He admitted, however, the State did pay monies to Joseph for wrongful dismissal, but this was only to avoid having sensitive security information exposed in the courts.
Ramlogan said he cannot disclose the amount paid to Joseph because of a confidentiality provision in the agreement.
Ramlogan did however list a number of losses and costs incurred by SAUTT, as well as what he called corrupt practices under Joseph’s watch. These include:
• the purchase of 300 bags of dog food each month to feed 25 dogs
• TT$41.8 million paid in an “Operational Contingency Fund”, with no breakdown and accountability
• close to TT$10 million spent on the construction of building facilities at Cumuto without the requisite Central Tenders Board approval
• over TT$7 million spent on a facility in East Port of Spain to accommodate displaced vendors, again, without the Central Tenders Board approval
• 185 vehicles purchased for SAUTT’s use, but an additional 183 vehicles were rented from companies which were set up for the purpose of renting vehicles to SAUTT
• TT$3 million in unauthorised invoices
• three missing containers of security equipment
• the inexplicable loss of an excavator which seems to have vanished into thin air, resulting in a multimillion-dollar suit against the State
• the rental of vehicles which cannot now be found
• a vehicle being assigned to Brigadier Joseph, even a year after he was removed from SAUTT
• numerous and persistent allegations by members of SAUTT’s staff about other staff members who had dummy companies supplying equipment to NSOC (National Security Operations Centre)
• the hiring of persons who had failed their polygraph tests
• the hiring of a nurse at a monthly salary of TT$20,000. The nurse—Ms Daniel—is the spouse of one of the former deputy directors of SAUTT. She was employed for nine months at SAUTT and, in addition to her monthly salary, she also received other perks such as a laptop, cellphone and SUV. This position was also never advertised.
SAUTT, said Ramlogan, failed to meet its statutory obligations as all civilian, contracted employees paid no income tax, NIS or Health Surcharge, and this infringement resulted in exorbitant debts being incurred.
The debts include: an income tax debt of TT$10,605,584, an NIS debt of TT$15,282,084 and a Health Surcharge debt of TT$675,683.
Ramlogan said there was rampant corruption at SAUTT as it was used to acquire items with no tendering process at exorbitant prices.
He said there was no evidence to show that projects requiring the approval of the permanent secretary or the Central Tenders Board were, in fact, submitted for such approval.
Ramlogan added that large sums of money were paid out to local contractors and service providers without the requisite approvals being recorded on file.
Ramlogan added that several purchases and projects worth millions of dollars were undertaken without the knowledge of SAUTT’s Finance department. As such, there are no official records in the Finance department of services in respect of which claims are now being made.
He said as all these questionable practices were occurring at SAUTT, crime spiralled.
Ramlogan said TT$1.8 billion went behind “wasted expenditure” for SAUTT as crime escalated and some 3,335 persons were murdered from 2002 to 2010.
Ramlogan said further wastage of public funds includes over TT$99 million for the purchase and maintenance of two airships, which were never effective in the crime fight, over TT$35 million on 33 United Kingdom police officers who trained local officers and earned from TT$42,000 to TT$86,000 a month and had free use of vehicles, fuel, luxury housing, meals, risk displacement and travel allowances.
The purchase of a blimp for US$12.6 million was also made under Joseph’s tenure, said Ramlogan, which has to be resold for a mere US$50,000 under this Government.
