Senior Reporter
joshua.seemungal@guardian.co.tt
A three-phase, 2.4-acre development in Cunupia called “Springfield Gardens” is under investigation by the Fraud Squad of the T&T Police Service (TTPS) for alleged fraudulent documents approving its construction.
This was confirmed by Chaguanas Mayor Faaiq Mohammed and the Chief Executive Officer of the Chaguanas Borough Corporation (CBC), Dianne Lakhan. The Fraud Squad also confirmed it is investigating the matter based on a report made on November 25, 2022.
At the moment, approximately 28 families occupy homes across two of the phases.
There are 14 lots per phase, while a proposed third phase comprising 17 lots is under construction.
According to residents, they each paid between $1.8 million to $1.9 million for a home.
With 28 families in occupancy, this means developers could have earned more than $50 million in house sales.
According to the CBC and some residents of the development, the first two phases were constructed by the developers without the necessary approvals from the CBC or the Town and Country Planning Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development.
As a result, many of the 28 homeowners said they are in a bind, unable to get completion certificates, and left with apartments that they claim are poorly built.
In the absence of the necessary approvals and a lengthy list of construction issues, the homeowners said they are having trouble with their mortgages, with interest rates going up for loans because their house valuations have decreased significantly.
They said they will also be unable to resell the homes as the corporation can legally put a hold on or condemn the homes.
Developer denies claims
But the lead developer Mahindra Boodram, however, strongly denies the claims made by the corporation and some of the development’s residents.
He said as far as he knows all phases of the development were built with the necessary approvals.
He claimed, as far as he knows, all the documents are authentic. Boodram, however, alleged that he was conned by an employee of the corporation, and the responsibility lies with that employee.
“Everything is in order from my end. The building inspector is the one who issued all the completions for me for phases I and II. They said I have fraudulent documents, but the Fraud Squad never contacted me. The corporation never contacted me and the residents never contacted me. Why police ain’t come to lock me up if it’s fraud?” he asked.
“These houses have been sold for a long time, and when I closed with the bank and the attorney, all the documents went through. Why didn’t they tell me back then I had a fraudulent certificate? Where I could get a completion certificate? I’m not working at the corporation. It has three stamps on the completion certificate. I am not working in the corporation to get that stamp-to-stamp thing. The people inside there are doing that. These men are torturing you. Too much corruption in that corporation and it will never change”
Meanwhile, despite not having drainage approval from the Ministry of Works and Transport, the third phase of the development was granted final approval by the CBC, as seen in documents obtained by the Sunday Guardian.
However, according to the Chaguanas Mayor and the CEO, the final approvals—with signatures and stamps–did not come from the CBC. The corporation is also doing an internal probe.
“Yes, it’s a false document because we don’t have proof of those documents here. It did not originate from here, and I cannot say anything else because it is under investigation,” said Lakhan.
Springfield Gardens in Cunupia.
Phases I and II
Some residents of the development are about to initiate legal action against Boodram seeking the money they paid for the apartments plus damages.
“Some of us don’t have any plans. None of the buildings could ever get a completion certificate,” said a spokesman for the residents. The individual was too scared to be named.
“The foundation is two and a half inches thick, compared to four inches. They weld the roof on. There’s a ring concrete beam around the roof. It needs to be replaced. It’s too small to support the roof. But the inner wall has no concrete beam to hold the wall and the steel that holds the roof is red brick. Some of us don’t even have foundation slabs. The filling is red sand. Water is seeping up on both sides. There are cracks in all the buildings. Every single one is cracking. There is no way in hell we could get our completion certificate. How are you going to fix the foundation?” the spokesman added.
Yet, somehow despite not having the requisite approvals, the two phases of the development have fire hydrants, drains, as well as WASA and T&TEC connections.
The Sunday Guardian visited the development last Wednesday and confirmed that the connections and installations are present.
The lack of the requisite approvals for the development was referenced in CBC internal documents obtained by the Sunday Guardian.
The document trail
A document trail obtained by the Sunday Guardian reveals the following:
1. According to a CBC document, the developer withdrew his application—reference number S-13/17–to develop 14 plots of land at Lot #1 Road Reserve, Esmeralda, Cunupia, on November 14, 2017. The application was previously deferred by the CBC on July 5, 2017.
2. In a CBC document, developer Mahindra Boodram’s application—reference number S-07/16–to develop 14 additional plots at Plot #2 Jonathon Trace, Esmeralda, Cunupia, was deferred by the County Medical Officer of Health.
3. On October 31, 2022, a CBC acting building inspector (II) sent CEO Lakhan an internal memo entitled ‘Fraudulent Completion Certificates For Lots #1K and #1M Road Reserve Off Jonathon Trace, Cunupia, owned by Mahindra Boodram.’
4. The memo stated that the issue of fraudulent completion certificates at the development was first brought up at the CBC’s Building and Land Development Committee meeting in February 2022 in response to a letter sent by Hobsons Attorney at Law. “The then Building Inspector reported that the Completion certificate bearing registration no 42/20 was not authentic. Upon further investigation of the Development consisting of 28 residential houses owned by Mahindra Boodram, it was discovered that no approvals in the form of Subdivision, Building Plans or Completion Certificates were ever issued on behalf of the Corporation and therefore this was an unauthorised Development … No Completion Certificates could have been issued in the Subdivision and three building plans out of the 28 lots hadn’t received any approval thus far,” the memo stated.
5. Phases I and II of the project were referenced again in another internal report, dated October 19, 2022, by CBC Acting Building Inspector II to the CBC CEO.
6. The memo stated that Phase I should have been referred to the Drainage Division of the Ministry of Works as it consisted of ten or more residential lands, and that the CBC final approval was withdrawn pending the requisite statutory approvals.
Phase III
Despite the issues which plagued Phase 1 and Phase 11 of the development, Phase III, which is currently under construction, was granted final approval by the CBC, according to a document obtained by the Sunday Guardian.
The document shows the purported signatures of CBC chief executive Dianne Lakhan, the County Medical Officer of Health for Caroni, an independent land surveyor, an engineering and survey officer from the Chaguanas Borough Corporation, and was purportedly stamped by the North Regional Office of the Town and Country Planning Division.
The signatures and stamps were dated between the period October 9 to October 22, 2022.
However, Lakhan said the document was fake.
* According to a CBC document entitled ‘List of Plans Approved, Deferred and Pending Approval,’ two Springfield Gardens developers had approvals for 12 lots, from Phase III, approved on September 28, 2022.
The document listed CBC reference numbers, the name of the applicants, the lot numbers, the location and the type of building approval was sought.
In correspondence, dated October 31, 2022, from a CBC Acting Building Inspector II to the CBC CEO, the building inspector wrote that council (Physical Infrastructure Committee) asking for an investigation in October 2022 to determine if due diligence was exercised in recommending a subdivision reference and the 12 building plans on August 4 and September 28, 2022, respectively.
“I was directed by council to investigate to determine if my predecessor had done due diligence before he made the recommendation for council’s approval. A site visit was conducted by employees of the Building Inspectors Department and myself, on October 19, 2022, to the site in question which was situated at Road Reserve off Jonathon Trace, Cunupia.
“There it was discovered that the development recommended by the then Building Inspector (person named) and the Engineering and Surveying Officer had a drainage system that was flowing into a development obliquely opposite consisting of 28 newly constructed residential homes. It was also noted on the site visit that the development recommended by both the former Building Inspector and ESO—consisting of 17 residential lots—was bounded by the Lecriche River… However, the requisite drainage approvals were never sought by both,” the letter to the CEO read.
* In another internal document, dated October 19, 2022, from a CBC acting building inspector II to the CBC CEO, the inspector flagged more concerns about the approval.
“Comprised of seventeen residential lots CBC Ref# S-60/20 which was granted Development Final Approval without the requisite Ministry of Works Drainage approval being obtained by the developer. It was also noted that 11 lots out of the 17 lots were directly bounded against the Lecriche River which is owned and maintained by the Ministry of Works Drainage Division.
“Should the developer refuse to obtain the requisite drainage Approvals for these phases, especially Phase III, then the council should seek legal advice to determine if the previous final approvals can be rescinded … I am also recommending that the CEO summon the former Building Inspector II (Ag) to explain why Ministry of Works Drainage approval was overlooked for Phases I and III, but not Phase II … The matter if left unabated has the potential to cast aspersions on the process used by the corporation,” the internal document read in part.
On January 31, 2023, the residents of Springfield Gardens were invited to a CBC Council meeting in which they were told by Lakhan and Mayor Mohammed that the final approval documents purported to have come from the CBC were not in the records. Both officials told the residents they were confused as to how the document with signatures and the corporation logo existed without being in their records.
The Sunday Guardian understands that more than ten residents are about to take legal action against the developers for money back and damages.
They have retained attorney Gerald Ramdeen to fight their matter.