PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Dec 16 2016 – Magistrate Christine Charles will decide next week Tuesday on the punishment of a newspaper journalist who pleaded guilty to unlawfully benefiting from a contract awarded to his company under the controversial but now-defunct multi-million dollar Life Sport Programme that led to the resignation of a government minister a few years ago.
Walter Alibey pleaded guilty to recovering TT$33,000 in Value Added Tax (VAT), although a company he owned and received a contract from the Life Sport Programme, was not registered with the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR).
The charge was laid by the Criminal Tax Investigation Unit of the BIR. Alibey, a father of four and director of Agro Aggressive Organisation and Maintenance Services, received a government contract for TT$832,703.50 on July 1, 2013, to carry out refurbishment and maintenance work at the Valencia Community Centre by the Ministry of Sport.
The company issued an invoice in the sum of $253,000 to the Sport Ministry for payment, which was approved and received on September 6, 2013.
It was later revealed that Agro Aggressive was not registered for VAT despite billing the Ministry $33,000 for VAT on its invoice.
This is the first conviction under the controversial Life Sport Programme that rocked the then People’s Partnership government and led to the resignation of then Sports Minister Anil Roberts.
