Former Government Minister Finbar Gangar yesterday was freed of two charges for failing to declare his foreign bank accounts to the Integrity Commission.
Magistrate Christine Charles discharged Gangar in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates' Court after prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) indicated that they could offer no evidence against him.
State prosecutor Norma Peters explained to Charles her office had evidential issues due to the protracted charges which were laid on Gangar almost 12 years ago. In a brief telephone interview afterwards Gangar said he was pleased with the outcome of the case.
"It always had to come to an end at some point in time. I was always of the view that these charges were unprosecutable," Gangar said.
Gangar was accused of failing to declare to the Integrity Commission two bank accounts in Jersey, Channel Islands, two in New York and one each in Royal Bank and Scotiabank in San Fernando.
At the time he was charged, the four accounts in the Channel Islands and New York were held jointly by Gangar and his wife, Maureen, while the accounts at Royal Bank and Scotiabank were said to be in Gangar's name only.
The two charges alleged that Gangar failed to declare the six bank accounts to the Integrity Commission for the years 1998 and 1999.
Former prime minister Basdeo Panday was slapped with three similar charges shortly before Gangar in 2004. Two years later, Panday was convicted by then Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Panday’s appealed and his conviction was overturned and a retrial ordered. During his retrial in 2012, Magistrate Marcia Murray granted a permanent stay of his charges as she agreed that the charges against him may have been politically motivated and that he was treated unfairly compared to other public officials who committed similar infractions under the integrity legislation and were not charged.
Gangar was represented by Jagdeo Singh and Rajeev Persad.