Mourners carry the body of Hafeez Karamath to El Socorro Muslim Cemetery for interment, yesterday. Photo: KEITH MATTHEWS

Controversial contractor Hafeez Karamath, 56, was laid to rest last evening at El Socorro Muslim Cemetery. He had died earlier in the day after struggling with illness for a few months. His construction company, Hafeez Karamath Construction Ltd (HKCL) also became a main contractor for the much delayed Brian Lara Stadium and Cricket Academy in Tarouba. Karamath reportedly received a $100 million advance for the project, even though the firm submitted proposals and not tenders, in breach of the tender rules of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott). His company had been at the centre of inquiry proceedings of the Uff Commission. Karamath appeared before the Uff Commission earlier this year, as well as in Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court, last year, to answer charges in these two matters.

His testimony was the subject of several newspaper reports during the inquiry, as he was unable to remember key events and details of the deals he brokered on behalf of his company. A prominent businessman and community leader in the San Juan area, Karamath was an active member of San Juan Business Association and often funded projects on his own, as well as through the local Islamic Foundation to help disadvantaged people. Karamath entered the spotlight on June 2, 2006, when he was charged with conspiring to defraud the T&T Government during a bid process for the desalination plant in Point Lisas.

Three days later, the charge against Karamath was withdrawn, and he was charged again, this time jointly with two Israelis, Joseph Ben-Dak and Daniel Hoffmann, a consultant retained by Ben-Dak to assist T&T in the bid process. It was alleged that between January 1, 1998, and August 25, 1999, in T&T and elsewhere, he conspired together with Ben-Dak and Hoffmann to defraud the State of T&T with a view to gain for himself, by dishonestly arranging a water supply contract to be awarded to a joint venture between Hafeez Karamath Engineering Services Ltd and Ionics, known as the Desalination Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Desalcott), through the Water and Sewerage Authority.

In August, 1998, the then UNC government requested Ben-Dak’s assistance in connection with the bid process for the Point Lisas Desalination Plant. One year later, the selection committee awarded the contract for the plant to Desalcott. Pursuant to the agreement, Desalcott was to finance, construct and operate the desalination plant. In 2008, US Judge Gabriel Gorenstein dismissed the request of the T&T Government for Ben Dak, who is a US resident, to be extradited to T&T to face charges. It ended up being a two-year battle for him to be extradited.