Justice Frank Seepersad yesterday granted a request by the East Port-of-Spain Development Corporation (EPoS) to freeze the assets of an employee and two of his companies to the tune of over $15 million.
The corporation took the civil action after a forensic audit allegedly uncovered that unauthorised cheque payments close to $16 million were made to Kirk Services Ltd, a trading company, of which EPoS accountant Solomon Lamb is a director, over a four-year period.
Lamb, Kirk Services Ltd and Lamb’s company Solomon Lamb & Associates Internal Audit & Management Consultant were named as defendants one, two and three respectively in the lawsuit.
The corporation asked the court to deal with its application as a matter of urgency, claiming there were instances of forgery of authorised signatures, fraudulent accounts for these payments, apparent manipulation or concealment of relevant records by Lamb.
Last Wednesday, Housing and Urban Development Minister Randall Mitchell, the EPoS line minister, issued a press release in relation to the matter.
Mitchell stated that a report was made to the Fraud Squad, but EPoS would also pursue civil action to recover the monies that were allegedly misappropriated.
He said the forensic probe initiated in November was prompted by financial discrepancies which were discovered in October.
EPoS management brought it to the attention of the board, who in turn raised it with Mitchell.
Yesterday, Seepersad, via video conference from the San Fernando High Court, granted the application to freeze the assets of the defendants to the tune of $15,225,871. 97. The defendants were also ordered to disclose all the particulars in relation to their accounts. The judge directed the parties to file their affidavits and adjourned the the matter to February 20, 2018.
EPoS was represented by Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes.