Fraud Squad officers visited the office of the Division of Tourism, Culture and Transportation at Sangster’s Hill, Tobago, yesterday, as they investigated an $8 million wire fraud transfer scam perpetrated against the division.
The issue was first highlighted by the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) at a news conference at James Park, Scarborough, yesterday morning.
It is alleged a senior Tobago House of Assembly (THA) transport official, after receiving an alleged email from Virgin Atlantic Airways about a change in their bank account, gave instructions for monies meant for the airline to be wired to the new account based in the UK. The money was subsequently withdrawn and the account closed and it was subsequently learned Virgin Atlantic never collected the sum, which was for airlift agreements from the UK to Tobago. The official has since claimed his account was hacked.
It was also alleged a similar incident occurred in July 2016, where the same officer caused the division to place $1.6 million, meant for agents in Miami for the upcoming cruise ship season, into a wrong account. Sources said yesterday that despite the issues the employee is still on the job.
Fraud Squad officers yesterday visited both the building housing the audio visual unit and the main building, which houses all the administrative officers, and questioned accounting staff. Division Secretary Nadine Stewart-Phillips was present, but there was no confirmation on if she was interviewed by officers.
Speaking at the news conference yesterday, Assemblyman Farley Augustine called for the Executive Council to give answers on the issue, as well as send all individuals involved on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation
He said the latest incident was “symptomatic of how the THA does its accounts.”
This is not the first time a wire transfer involving a state agency has going wrong in Trinidad and Tobago. A 2011 auditor’s report conducted by the National Gas Company (NGC) revealed an incident of a $60 million wire transfer fraud at its subsidiary, National Energy Corporation (formerly NEC, now National Energy), in September 2011 to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi in Dubai.
The audit, which was directed by then NGC chairman and former finance minister Larry Howai, had noted that the bank did not follow due diligence before it transferred US$9,608,904.36 (TT$60.5 million) through three wire transfers out of NEC’s US account. The issue was before the Fraud Squad and was deemed solvable, but was eventually dropped.
Efforts to contact Stewart-Phillips were unsuccessful yesterday.