Three persons were granted a total of $700,000 bail by a Justice of the Peace (JP) after they were charged with Misbehaviour in Public Office by officers of the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIB) yesterday.
VIDYA RAMDASS, 43, an employee of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, of Sangre Grande, CHHATRAPAL LOWKARAN, 66, a Foreign Used Car Dealer, of Rio Claro and EDWARD FRASER, 68, a Foreign Used Car Dealer, of Princes Town, were charged on Thursday 17th November, 2022 as follows:
Ramdass, jointly with Lowkaran as a secondary facilitator, with four counts of Misbehaviour in Public Office, by WPC Loney-Phillip of the ACIB,
Ramdass, with two counts of Misbehaviour in Public Office and one additional count of Misbehaviour in Public Office, jointly with Fraser as a secondary facilitator, by W/Cpl Brown of the ACIB, and,
Ramdass, with two counts of Misbehaviour in Public Office for issuing fraudulent licenses to a business place, by PC Alleyne of the ACIB.
Ramdass was granted bail with surety by JP Ali on Friday 18th November, 2022 in the sum of $350,000, while Lowkaran and Fraser were also granted bail with surety in the sums of $200,000 and $150,000 respectively.
The trio is to appear before a Port of Spain Magistrate on December 20th, 2022.
It is alleged that a female Trade Officer II employed with the Ministry of Trade with responsibilities to issue Trade Licences for the importation of Foreign Used Roll-On Roll-Off motor vehicles issued fraudulent licenses to two Foreign Used Car Dealers during the period November 2020 and July 2021.
Investigations were conducted during the period October 2021 and November 16th, 2022 into the matter by officers of the ACIB supervised by Snr. Supts. Knutt and Singh and led by ASP Bryon Daniel.
The investigation included W/Insps. Mc Millan and Weaver-Ali, Sgt. Baldwin, W/Cpl Brown, WPCs Harewood and Loney-Phillip and PC Alleyne, which led to the execution of search warrants at the homes of the accused.
The searches resulted in several documents being found and seized.
Charges were laid following advice received from Director of Public Prosecutions, Roger Gaspard SC on Thursday 17th November, 2022.
