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Over the next few weeks Guardian Me­dia will be high­light­ing a mul­ti-part in­ves­tiga­tive se­ries that hinges on un­der­world ac­tiv­i­ty and key play­ers that po­lice have been mon­i­tor­ing for a pe­ri­od of time. This is the first part in the Un­der­world Files se­ries.

Sev­en re­put­ed gang lead­ers in north Trinidad have ben­e­fit­ed from State con­tracts worth close to $6 mil­lion in spite of as­sur­ances by Gov­ern­ment to the con­trary.

The mon­ey was paid to al­leged gang lead­ers based in com­mu­ni­ties in the Port-of-Spain to Diego Mar­tin ar­eas over the last three years.

This in­for­ma­tion is con­tained in a con­fi­den­tial eight-page Spe­cial Branch re­port pre­pared in mid-May that was ob­tained as part of a Guardian Me­dia in­ves­ti­ga­tion just a week af­ter Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith blamed the state for plac­ing funds in the hands of gang lead­ers.

He warned that this prac­tice had fu­elled gang wars and con­tributed to an up­surge in homi­cides over the last 15 years.

Grif­fith said: “It is very dif­fi­cult for the Po­lice Ser­vice to try to pro­vide safe­ty and se­cu­ri­ty to a coun­try when the State con­tin­ues to fa­cil­i­tate ma­jor con­tracts for gang mem­bers. This is not the first time and I hope it could come to an end one day.”

Speak­ing on CNC3’s The Morn­ing Brew, Grif­fith added: “For the last 15 years, homi­cides went in this coun­try from 150-odd to 500 af­ter 15 years be­cause of dif­fer­ent ad­min­is­tra­tions com­ing and go­ing, con­tin­u­ing to give mul­ti-mil­lion con­tracts to gang mem­bers by call­ing them com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers and by prob­a­bly as­sist­ing to win an elec­tion.”

The mon­ey was paid to al­leged gang lead­ers based in com­mu­ni­ties in the Port-of-Spain to Diego Mar­tin ar­eas over the last three years.

Speak­ing on CNC3’s The Morn­ing Brew, Grif­fith added: “For the last 15 years, homi­cides went in this coun­try from 150-odd to 500 af­ter 15 years be­cause of dif­fer­ent ad­min­is­tra­tions com­ing and go­ing, con­tin­u­ing to give mul­ti-mil­lion con­tracts to gang mem­bers by call­ing them com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers and by prob­a­bly as­sist­ing to win an elec­tion.”

Hours af­ter Guardian Me­dia high­light­ed sev­en re­put­ed gang lead­ers in North Trinidad have been ben­e­fit­ting from state con­tracts worth close to $6 mil­lion, Min­is­ter of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Kaz­im Ho­sein has promised to launch a full-scale in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the mat­ter with a re­port to be sub­mit­ted on his desk next month.

The min­istry in a press re­lease was re­spond­ing to to­day's T&T Guardian's front-page ar­ti­cle head­lined "$6 Mil­lion Men" which un­earthed gang lead­ers based in com­mu­ni­ties in the Port-of-Spain and Diego Mar­tin ben­e­fit­ting from mil­lion-dol­lar con­tracts over the last three years.

This in­for­ma­tion was con­tained in a con­fi­den­tial eight-page Spe­cial Branch re­port pre­pared in mid-May that was ob­tained as part of a Guardian Me­dia in­ves­ti­ga­tion just one week af­ter Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith blamed the state for plac­ing funds in the hands of gang lead­ers.

The re­lease quot­ed Ho­sein stat­ing that the min­istry viewed these al­le­ga­tions as "very se­ri­ous­ly and in­tends to ad­dress them as a mat­ter of ur­gency."

It fur­ther stat­ed that au­di­tors of the min­istry are sched­uled to com­mence an in­ves­ti­ga­tion as a mat­ter of ur­gency at all cor­po­ra­tions.

THE PRIME Minister said the Government is concerned if gang leaders are receiving contracts from the State.

He was responding to statements by Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith blaming the State for giving contracts to gang leaders and a Special Branch report which named seven reputed gang leaders who reportedly benefitted from multi-million dollar state contracts from both the Diego Martin Regional Corporation and the Port-of-Spain City Corporation. Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein has promised an audit into the situation.

Dr Rowley was asked about the issue yesterday at the post-Cabinet media conference at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain.

He replied: "If there are gang leaders who are known as such and persons in gangs we took a long time in the Parliament and we took two shots to pass anti-gang legislation, the purpose of which is to allow the police upon being satisfied that these situations exist and these people are engaged in criminal conduct of that nature that the police will charge them and have them be so labelled and that is what we expect."

On Griffith's statements that gangsters continue to receive state contracts Rowley said the Government is concerned if that is happening.