Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, Gary Grif­fith, has launched an in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the re­turn of $22 mil­lion in cash. The mon­ey was seized by of­fi­cers of the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Re­sponse Team (SORT) who ex­e­cut­ed a search war­rant at a house where it was al­leged that per­sons were op­er­at­ing a Pyra­mid Scheme.

Grif­fith stat­ed that the mon­ey was hand­ed back to the op­er­a­tor of the scheme with­out his knowl­edge. He found it very sus­pi­cious that the mon­ey was re­turned with­out the in­put of the Fi­nan­cial In­tel­li­gence Bu­reau.

The fol­low­ing is a press re­lease from the TTPS:

Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice, Gary Grif­fith, has launched a wide­spread in­ves­ti­ga­tion at the high­est lev­el to de­ter­mine who de­cid­ed to re­turn more than $22 mil­lion in cash which was seized from a house at Kath­leen Warn­er Dri­ve, Phase I, La Hor­quet­ta, yes­ter­day, Sep­tem­ber 22nd.
The mon­ey was seized by of­fi­cers of the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Re­sponse Team (SORT) who ex­e­cut­ed a search war­rant at a house where it was al­leged that per­sons were op­er­at­ing a Pyra­mid Scheme.

The mon­ey was kept at a po­lice sta­tion. Com­mis­sion­er Grif­fith said pre­lim­i­nary in­ves­ti­ga­tions show that the mon­ey was hand­ed back to the op­er­a­tor of the Scheme this morn­ing with­out his knowl­edge and those of his Deputy Com­mis­sion­ers.

The CoP finds 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.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors com­plet­ed the count of the mon­ey at 12.30 am to­day. He said the in­ves­ti­ga­tion would de­ter­mine if any crim­i­nal or dis­ci­pli­nary ac­tion is to be tak­en against any po­lice of­fi­cers.

Com­mis­sion­er Grif­fith said the mon­ey was hand­ed back with­out a prop­er in­ves­ti­ga­tion to de­ter­mine whether any of it was coun­ter­feit. He 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.

As part of this in­ves­ti­ga­tion, the CoP said ex­ter­nal foren­sic per­son­nel will be brought in to de­ter­mine if any of the mon­ey was coun­ter­feit. CoP Grif­fith said he is aware that there is a con­cern that a num­ber of per­sons in­vest­ed their hard-earned mon­ey, hop­ing to cash in on this al­leged Pyra­mid Scheme.

He gave the as­sur­ance that once these per­sons can prove that their mon­ey was le­git­i­mate, the TTPS will en­sure that their mon­ey is re­turned to them in the short­est pos­si­ble time. Dili­gent in­quiries are be­ing pur­sued at this time.