Trinidad's ex-PM 'hid money in British bank'

Former Trinidadian prime minister Basdeo Panday hid thousands of pounds in a British bank account, a prosecutor told the start of a criminal trial for the prominent opposition leader.

Panday, who was prime minister from 1995 to 2001, broke Trinidadian law when he failed to disclose a NatWest bank account jointly held with his wife, Oma, that at one point held nearly $200,000 (€164,900), prosecutor Timothy Cassel said in his opening statement.

The former prime minister was charged in September 2002 with three counts of knowingly making false statements to Trinidad’s Integrity Commission by not declaring the account in financial statements from 1997 to 1999.

Panday has pleaded not guilty, saying in court documents that the account was for his wife and his children’s education.

Cassel told the judge hearing the case in Trinidad’s capital, Port-of-Spain, that the large fluctuations in the amount of money in the account cast doubt on Panday’s explanation.

If convicted, the 72-year-old Panday faces up to six years in prison, a fine and could be barred from running for parliament again.

Panday, the country’s first prime minister of east Indian descent, lost his position in October as the leader of Trinidad’s main opposition party, United National Congress, after 17 years in the post. He is now the party’s chairman.

In a separate case, Panday has been charged with acceptig a bribe in an airport corruption scandal. He has said the allegations are a politically motivated attack by prime minister Patrick Manning’s ruling People’s National Movement party.