Four more charged with flood fraud

FOUR more people have been charged with allegedly participating in a flood-relief scam.

Five people were charged on Thursday night by the Fraud Squad, one of whom was previously charged with nine others last week. In all, 14 people have so far been charged in connection with the scam.

The new charges against the four allege they fraudulently obtained $20,000.

They were expected to appear before a Port of Spain magistrate yesterday, but were not brought to court. They are expected to appear on Monday.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between October 25 and November 13.

Since the flooding on October 19, the ministry has reportedly distributed more than $84 million in relief grants to over 5,000 families across TT.

Each household received between $15,000 and $20,000 depending on whether they had children.

On Thursday, at a People’s National Movement meeting at City Hall, Port of Spain, the Prime Minster said more than $45 million that was supposed to go to flood victims were instead taken by fraudsters, according to an audit by the Ministry of Finance.