Questions on whether People's National Movement (PNM) Senator Colm Imbert used millions of dollars of state resources during his tenure as minister of works and transport to divert the Maraval River off his private lands in Moka, Maraval, have been sent to the Integrity Commission.
Businessman Emile Elias, who compiled a series of documents and copies of letters dating back to 2003 when Imbert first purchased the multi-million dollar property near the Moka golf course, delivered the packet to the Integrity Commission on Thursday.
In one of the 2003 letters, a project manager at Total Real Estate Services Ltd informed the works supervisor at the Drainage Division they had been retained privately by Imbert to undertake the work of realigning the Maraval River off the property at Kaia Lane, Moka.
In that letter, the company requested a speedy response as it needed to take advantage of the dry season in order to complete the works.
The Ministry of Works and Transport, which is responsible for drainage works, approved the work but stipulated that the cost must be borne privately.
Checks by the Sunday Guardian found that Total Real Estate Services Ltd was owned by Imbert in 2003. Despite the request for a speedy ministerial approval, no work was done on the property and Total Real Estate Services Ltd was struck off the companies registry in 2005. By 2006, the Imbert Construction Group Ltd, utilising the same registered address as the now defunct Total Real Estate Services, applied to Town and Country Planning seeking permission to divide the lands for residential purposes, to carry out the necessary engineering operations and to divert the Maraval River and fill the old watercourse.
A response from Town and Country, by letter dated January 18, 2006, gave Imbert one year to the date to start the works or the permission would lapse. Town and Country Planning also asked the Imbert Construction Company to verify whether the property was allocated as a recreational open space.
That letter also noted one discrepancy with the measurements of the land in question. Town and Country noted that Imbert's company described the land as 1.2 hectares (2.9 acres) but it was actually found to be 5.83 hectares (14.4 acres).
Another letter from the Ministry of Works and Transport, dated September 29, 2009, was directed to Imbert Construction Group Ltd referencing the property at Kaia Lane, Moka, Maraval. In that letter the Drainage Division acknowledged that the realignment was done and was completed to the satisfaction of the ministry.
Imbert was the minister of works and transport at the time that letter was sent to his construction company.
No response from Imbert
The Sunday Guardian attempted to reach Imbert through an email, voicemails and text over the past week. Calls to his mobile phone produced only one pickup before it was immediately disconnected.
Elias' complaints:
Elias compiled a three-page, 11-item cover letter attached to the documents. In the letter Elias recalled that he had made a previous application to the commission on the same issue in which he stated that the river was diverted in 2008. This, Elias said, was corroborated by accounts from neighbours who were present when the work was being done.
"The burning question is why did Mr Imbert, who owned the Moka lands personally, use his company to make the application?" Elias asks in his letter. "I would ask you to note that while the said letter gives the address of the company, no mention is made as to who the directors are," he said.
He also states after the initial application to the Drainage Division in 2003 and the response that the job had to be undertaken privately, there was no work on the property.
"The application trail went cold," Elias said.
"It was not until March 2006 after Imbert became the minister of works and transport that an application was made to Town and Country Planning Division by a different company of Mr Imbert's–Imbert Construction Group Ltd–for permission to develop the Moka lands which was stated to include the diversion/realignment of the Maraval River," Elias stated.
"It is therefore clear to me that the diversion of the Maraval River took place at the earliest in 2008 and the latest 2009–a period during which Mr Imbert held the portfolio of minister of works and transport. The realignment of the river and the development of the Moka lands was also clearly done at a feverish pace when compared to the great stagnation prior to Mr Imbert's tenure as minister of works and transport," Elias said.
Elias told Sunday Guardian that on a job that scale millions of dollars of state funds would have been spent.
Imbert's companies:
Imbert Construction Services BN 13-34
Registered in 1987
Registered to Colm Imbert, civil engineer, Trinidadian (formerly Antiguan).
March 18, 1996, company ceased to carry on business
Total Real Estate Services:
Registered in 1997
Original directors: Colm Imbert and Ralph Williams
May 2002-Ruth Van Lare replaced Lesley Ann Charles as secretary
July 2002-Ruth Van Lare and Suzanne Williams-Imbert replaced Ralph Williams and Imbert as directors
Imbert Construction Group:
Incorporated 1996
In 2002 Imbert was replaced as a director by Ruth Van Lare.
In 2008, Imbert transferred his shares in the company to wife, Suzanne Williams-Imbert.
On May 12, 2011, Imbert replaces Van Lare as director
On April 29, 2011, Imbert Construction changed its name to Comprehensive Building Managers.
Imbert remained listed as a director.