In­dar­jit Seu­raj

Fraud charges against con­tract­ing firm Hafeez Kara­math Ltd (HKL) have been for­mal­ly dis­con­tin­ued by the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP). The de­ci­sion by DPP Roger Gas­pard yes­ter­day fol­lowed an in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the af­fairs of HKL which re­vealed the com­pa­ny was no longer "vi­able."Gas­pard in­formed Chief Mag­is­trate Mar­cia Ay­ers-Cae­sar that be­cause of the lat­est de­vel­op­ment, the State no longer wished to pur­sue with the pros­e­cu­tion.

"It would be a waste of pub­lic re­sources to pro­ceed with this mat­ter," Gas­pard said. "The com­pa­ny is not vi­able," he added.The dis­con­tin­u­ance ends the pre­lim­i­nary in­quiry, which was be­fore the court for well over two years, in a court bat­tle which al­so saw the State fail in its at­tempts to ex­tra­dite to T&T Is­raeli na­tion­als Joseph Ben­dak and Daniel Hoff­man.

They were want­ed along­side HKL and its ex­ec­u­tive chair­man Hafeez Kara­math for fraud of­fences re­lat­ing to the De­sali­na­tion Com­pa­ny of T&T (De­sal­cott)..Gas­pard said his de­ci­sion came fol­low­ing in­quiries done by him­self and in­ves­ti­ga­tor In­sp John Teles­ford in­to the af­fairs of HKL