Case against Karamaths adjourned to Dec. 15

A magistrate in Tunapuna on Friday adjourned the arms, ammunition and drugs case against Khalil Karamath and his wife Sabeera to December 15.

The son and daughter-in-law of the late contractor, Hafeez Karamath, were arrested at the family mansion last month and given bail of $1.5 million each.

On August 24, Senior Magistrate Joan Eversley-Gill approved bail for in the sum of $1.5 million each with two critical conditions:

• The couple were ordered to immediately surrender all travel documents and their passports to a Clerk of the Peace
• They must report every day to the St Joseph Police Station and their visit must be recorded and documented by a police officer at the station.

The magistrate accepted the defence submission for bail. “I have no information before me to believe that you would abscond if not kept in custody or that you will interfere with witnesses or commit any criminal act if not kept in custody,” she said.

Eversley-Gill explained that she had no choice but to grant bail because of the way the law now stands. She added that recent amendments to the Bail Act don't apply since the couple did not have previous convictions.

Police arrested the couple and three others during a search of Karamath home in Valsayn Park. The search was part of their investigations into corruption allegations at UDeCOTT.

Karamath died suddenly last year before he appeared before the Uff inquiry into UDeCOTT and the construction sector. His company was the main contractor at the Brian Lara Stadium. Karamath was a key witness at the inquiry.

The stadium is part of the focus of investigations into UDeCOTT. It is several years behind schedule and still incomplete. And its cost has crossed one billion dollars so far.

During the raid police seized several documents but also found 18 firearms and an assortment of drugs and hallucinogens.