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| HCU head office in Chaguanas |
Former commissioner of cooperative development Charles Mitchell made the statements during his testimony at the Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the HCU.
Maharajh was Commissioner of Cooperative Development from April 1995 to January 2006.
Mitchell stated, "The Commissioner has the authority to deal with a society that is delinquent or who tends to be having a haemorrhage of the funds of the society. He can stem the tide, he has certain powers to do that."
He charged that according to audited financial reports the HCU was deemed insolvent since 2004.
"He (Maharajh) and Harry Harnarine go back a long way. They are schoolmates, they are friends, they went to school together in Rio Claro and this is why he did this. This is skewed, that is not correct," Mitchell said.
He said Maharajh ordered a "hands-off approach" of the HCU although he was supposed to report monthly to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Labour about the societies under their purview.
Mitchell, who was Commissioner of Cooperative Development from August 2007 to January 2009, said when he reviewed the HCU's 2005 audited financial statements he realised "something was amiss", adding that he was "very alarmed at the state of financial affairs" at the HCU.
He ordered an investigation into the HCU and sent a "due diligence investigation" report to the Fraud Squad in September 2008. Nothing came out of that, he said and he recommended the winding up of the HCU.
Mitchell said the $225 million the HCU in loans to its subsidiaries was a "vehicle to siphon money".
"He (Maharajh) and Harry Harnarine go back a long way. They are schoolmates, they are friends, they went to school together in Rio Claro and this is why he did this. This is skewed, that is not correct," Mitchell said.
He said Maharajh ordered a "hands-off approach" of the HCU although he was supposed to report monthly to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Labour about the societies under their purview.
Mitchell, who was Commissioner of Cooperative Development from August 2007 to January 2009, said when he reviewed the HCU's 2005 audited financial statements he realised "something was amiss", adding that he was "very alarmed at the state of financial affairs" at the HCU.
He ordered an investigation into the HCU and sent a "due diligence investigation" report to the Fraud Squad in September 2008. Nothing came out of that, he said and he recommended the winding up of the HCU.
Mitchell said the $225 million the HCU in loans to its subsidiaries was a "vehicle to siphon money".
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