Griffith said no proper investigation was done as to the source of these funds, or whether the person or persons involved had committed any criminal acts.Īs part of this investigation, Griffith said external forensic personnel will be brought in to determine if any of the money was counterfeit. He said the investigation would determine if “any criminal or disciplinary action is to be taken against any police officers” and that the “money was handed back without a proper investigation to determine whether any of it was counterfeit”. Griffith said he found it “it very suspicious that $22 million in cash was seized and within hours, that money was checked and a decision made to give it back without the input of the Financial Intelligence Bureau (FIB) of the TTPS”. The money was kept at a police station and Griffith said preliminary investigations show that the money was handed back to the operator of the scheme early Wednesday without his knowledge and those of his Deputy Commissioners. Questions must be asked about the legitimacy of having 22 million dollars in cash (and) it is not for me to play judge or jury, there is a current investigation,” he told reporters.Įarlier, Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said he had launched a probe “at the highest level” to determine who had returned the money seized from the house.Ī police statement said that the money was seized by officers of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) who executed a search warrant at the house where it was alleged that persons were operating a pyramid scheme.
‘For me that’s a huge amount of money, 22 million dollars in cash. He said he has since received a report on the police exercise and that he was amazed at the TT$22 million in cash at the house. He said the scheme first came to the attention of law enforcement officials “when you saw scores of people breaching the public health protocols, the COVID health protocols, assembling outside a home, when the police investigated they found out that it is a possible pyramid scheme taking place”. “If it seems too good to be true that is because it is too good to be true,” said Young adding that the incident has left many questions unanswered. “There are possible criminal charges, I leave that up to the police under the Proceeds of Crime Act and other pieces of legislation,” said Young, an attorney, adding that the “government is concerned and now is a good a time as any to warn the population of Trinidad and Tobago don’t get caught in any pyramid scheme. ”That is a fairly complex investigation that needs to take place to find out if all of us in this room went and gave our money, we got a receipt etc and we haven’t been the victims of the collapse as yet, what is the criminal charge.