By ANDRE BAGOO Tuesday, November 3 2009

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FINAL RITES: Muslims pray over the casket bearing the remains of Hafeez Karamath during final rites yesterday. ...

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CONTROVERSIAL businessman Hafeez Karamath, the managing director of Hafeez Karamath Limited (HKL), died yesterday morning after suffering for years from an undisclosed illness.

Sources close to Karamath yesterday confirmed that he died yesterday morning. He was buried, according to Islamic custom, hours later at the El Socorro Muslim Cemetery, at about 5 pm.

Staff at HKL yesterday said the firm’s head-office at Cyrus Trace, El Socorro Extension, San Juan, was closed early to allow employees to attend the funeral, which was also attended by politicians including Congress of the People (COP) member Ganga Singh.

When he attended hearings of the Uff Commission of Inquiry on February 4 to answer questions about the relationship between HKL and Udecott, Karamth had to be assisted by a nurse and could barely speak because of respiratory difficulty. In fact, Karamath at one stage in his testimony had to request a ten-minute break during cross-examination.

Karamath’s death will bring to an end several pending legal matters most notably, a fraud charge in relation to the Desalination Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Desalcott), which is carded to come up in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court on November 30 and which now will have to be discontinued.

Karamath was alleged to have conspired to defraud the State by manipulating the tender process in relation to the Desalcott matter. The proceedings resulted in a civil suit being brought against him by the Water and Sewerage Authority, proceedings which were however later discontinued by WASA.

Karamath’s death also comes in the midst of the Uff commission which had placed renewed scrutiny on him and the affairs of his firm and its involvement in the over-budget and behind schedule $800 million Brian Lara Stadium project at Tarouba.

HKL was alleged during the inquiry proceedings to have received millions worth of advances without proper certification or adequate finance backing for the project. Karamath’s HKL was also involved in the Real Spring Housing project in Valsayn, which has seen questions raised over the $7 million sale of land from the NUFGW Construction Company to Udecott after the NUGFW bought the land from the State at heavily discounted rates.