Suspended Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) chief executive officer Sharma Maharaj yesterday directed all queries on the ongoing audit and criminal probe to the new management at the special purpose company.
The T&T Guardian was only able to speak with Maharaj for a brief time before he ended the phone interview yesterday.
“If this is about EFCL, you just keep writing what you have been for the past week,” Maharaj said when the paper identified itself.
When asked if he was concerned about the police investigation or the alleged secret room where employees were found backdating contracts, Maharaj said he had no comment.
Sharma and EFCL chief operations officer, Kiran Shah, were suspended last week with full pay and benefits pending the outcome of an investigation into the EFCL’s operations under the previous board.
Head of Communications at the T&T Police Service, Ellen Lewis, yesterday confirmed that officers attached to the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau (ACIE) were at the EFCL’s office as part of the criminal investigation into the operations at the State company under the previous administration.
The investigators, the T&T Guardian understands, carted away documents and computer hardware.
The T&T Guardian last week reported that a secret room, which was on a separate floor from the actual EFCL office space, was discovered by a new board member last week.
Some employees were found allegedly doctoring documents and back-dating contracts in the room on the lower floor of the building, which houses another business. The employees were subsequently sent home and barred from accessing the company’s IT mainframe.
The T&T Guardian has learnt since the news of the find became public, two contractors who were favoured by the last executive had met with their respective lawyers to determine a legal way forward.
Another contractor with close links to the People's National Movement (PNM) and who was recently appointed to a State board is also part of the investigation.