Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson, the two multi-millionaires who have been resisting deportation from Trinidad and Tobago for the past three years finally lost their battle and will be sent to Florida to face trial on 95 charges of fraud involving some $1.9 billion. Attorney General Anand Ramlogan ordered the deportation of the two men to the United States.

According to Caribbean News Now, a press release from the attorney general’s office stated that the allegations against Ferguson and Galbarsingh are “complex and serious.” The attorney general decided based on these serious allegations that both men are to be tried as soon as possible where they will be either acquitted or convicted. Sir Ellis Clarke, one of the architects of Trinidad and Tobago’s two constitutions and its first president, had said that Ferguson and Galbaransingh should be tried in Trinidad.

According to ttgapers.com, Galbaransingh and Ferguson had been indicted in the United States on charges of bid-rigging, money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud, arising from an airport development project. Trinidad and Tobago claimed that Ferguson, Ishwar Galbaransingh, Raul Guiterrez Jr, and Birk Hillman Consultancy Inc conspired to manipulate the bid process for the expansion of the Piarco Airport terminal.

These charges were laid by a United States grand jury on November 29, 2005. Both men have been battling extradition ever since on a number of claims including that the charges overlap similar charges in Trinidad and Tobago.

http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-Trinidad-multi-millionaires-to-be-deported-to-US-to-face-billion-dollar-fraud-charges-2525.html

Also see http://www.ttgapers.com/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=1868