There’s an ongoing battle for ownership of the mega-million dollar newspaper, Newsday. The company launched by Daniel Chookolingo in 1993, is getting no media publicity because two years after its launch, the daily immediately became the fastest selling newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago outstripping the then 30-year old Trinidad Express and the mighty Guardian which was then over 75 years old. Both newspaper and their vast billion dollar media outfits have remained silent since the case was filed in the High Court in 2014.While Newsday’s up-to-date value remains shrouded, there was a valuation done a decade ago which put its worth at over $200 million dollars. Sources close to Mr Chookolingo says this is a bogus value which was given by the Steve Castagne controlled board to buy out minority shareholders to gain full control of his company.
CORPORATE MURDER CITED IN NEWSDAY MURDER CASE
* One % Up The Ante With Open Display of Death Threat At Meeting
* Crime Has Reached Epic Proportions with Display of Gun at Meeting to Cover Up $200+ Million Dollar Disappearance.
* No Police Action Yet, After Fraud Reports Over 1 Year Ago
* While Police Commissioner Says Results On Murder By June
* Mirror Equipment Headed Off To Guyana
(First published 3rd March 2023)
TTJF has received a letter sent to shareholders of Choko Holdings Ltd (CHL) stating renewed attempts have been made to silence one of the founders of the CHL and also of sole founder of Newsday, Daniel Chookolingo. CHL was up until a year ago a significant owner of Newsday but was clandestinely sold for a mere $8 million causing cries of fraud and corruption by some shareholders. These shareholders have since been illegally excluded from meetings for their questions.
The report of the strong-arm tactics at the meeting speaks for itself and was written by the said Daniel Chookolingo.
Report to Fran Sutton and Others at Choko Holdings Ltd…for posterity.
Hello Fran,
As you know the CHL AGM was held on the 25th Feb 2023, and I while I was slated to attend I had an uneasy feeling about attending based on previous verbal assaults at the last 2 meetings.
Therefore, at the last minute I decided to ask David Chookolingo to deliver a written statement in my absence.
All members would have seen my emailed proxy which was sent and accepted as I did not get any notification that it will be rejected.
David, whose proxy was also sent to CHL, reported that when he arrived at the compound he was greeted by an armed security guard in a bullet proof vest.
Neil Chookolingo was also present apparently waiting to enter as well.
The officer told David that the meeting was closed since all invited persons were already present even though he was on time for the 2 p.m. start.
Neil left as soon as David was turned away in a most unceremoniously manner. Neil is a frail looking 69 year old person that could hardly hurt a fly.
This is the first time I’m hearing about an armed security guard attending a small meeting of 10-odd members, almost all who were backing the Board anyway.
So since those opposing were barred, the records will probably show that there was unanimous approval, something we may never know. Maybe Ford had lost the key support of proxies she is accustomed to when some people took notice of the $200 million heist. Nevertheless, a simple letter or email to those barred would have been appropriate instead of an armed security guard.
I remember in 2021 when I was also ejected, the proxy was rejected for reasons yet unknown. However, in 2022 I was allowed using the same proxy and I proceeded to ask a number of questions which were not answered but Dawn Ford promised to answer my questions by email, which is not the lawful process. Incidentally, I am still awaiting those answers which involved providing me with a list of assets sold, and their respective valuations. She did mention that the muti-million dollar press was sold for a pitiful $20,000. but remained mum on all the other pieces of very expensive equipment. I imagine they were sold for a few hundred dollars since the multi-million dollar press was sold for $20,000., so I am not surprised I did not get an answer that would have caused additional headaches for Dawn Ford.
As I said, last Saturday I expected something was up and I was proven right by the denied entry of David and apparently Neil.
The ominous thing is why use such tactics like an armed officer to prevent entry since at the 2021 meeting when I was told to leave, (illegally), I left quietly.
I suspect the reason for having this armed office there was to set up a situation whereby a fracas would be falsely created and the officer would have shot someone, namely me, and solve many of Dawn’s problems in an instant. I say this because a similar situation occurred a couple of years ago on the CR Highway when two cars tried to sandwich me in an obvious staged “accident".
Had I not applied sudden brakes and stopped there would have been a serious accident, where I would have to exit the vehicle and face the 2 other drivers. While I did come to a stop to access the situation, the other cars pulled up a couple of hundred feet away and waited for me to pass them again ... Needless to say, that matter was reported to the police with the provision of car numbers, but there was no action.
But back to Dawn Ford and the meeting. Ford’s problems are at least four-fold.
Problem #1: With no other shareholder willing or able to challenge the illegality of the board she must target the person who can. Rex is testimony to that even though he never filed any legal matter. Indeed, some shareholders have reported to have taken handsome payouts because they knew of her shenanigans and decided to exploit it. They probably thought they were out smarting Dawn by taking money to stay quiet. These $200+ million revelations must surely have them shocked.
Problem #2: Dawn’s stated intention is to close CHL so that this will allow for the disposal of the proof and therefore the ability to do retroactive investigation. This is a fallacious argument as a court can order otherwise.
Problem #3: A shooting incident, if it had happened on Saturday, leaving one or more persons dead or wounded, would have given crooked Dawn Ford what she needed from most shareholders, (if not all), some of whom may have otherwise opposed such a move. Remember, there are already many questions that may implicate them for murder involving at least 4 persons who opposed them.
Starting with the untimely death of Wayne, which saw Dawn Ford suddenly appear with a bogus offer of $64 million days after Wayne was cremated. Apparently, her “mysterious” buyer had all the detailed information of what the company was worth without even having a meeting with members of the Board or seeing the financials.
Problem #4: Dawn would no longer need to continually fear a possible backlash from shareholders if she was allowed to close CHL. The other unpalatable option is the unpleasant questions would continue which may very well lead to some other truths coming out as to why she was so vociferous spreading rake, (in T&T that’s lies), in the past years but today she is eerily silent and is taking the high road. A few simple questions, (truthfully answered), have the potential to put this mammoth disappearance of monies and assets to rest, so why not do that in the open instead of some private chit chat she is known to have with shareholders? But truthfully answered they would sink Dawn and surely Steve Castagne, the beneficiary of those shares.
Instead, all shareholders are faced with is the missing $200+ million and a lot of unaccounted expensive equipment probably worth mega millions.
No wonder David and Neil were barred from the meeting.
I sincerely hope that the pay-off of certain shareholders was well worth it for them.
As for me, I am doing what is required and hope a shooting incident is avoided and blame being attributed to me.
A copy of the statement I asked David to deliver is hereby attached.
Regards,
Daniel
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Mirror Equipment Headed Off To Guyana
TTJF has been reliably informed that the Mirror printing press (purchased for $20,000.) and all the related expensive pre-press electronics, including the image setter, computers and software have been shipped to Guyana to set up a media house there. This is being done to copy the media control and stranglehold by the 1% in Guyana that currently exists in T&T.
The man behind the Guyana new media outfit is said to be Steve Castagne, who is himself Guyanese born. Guyana has seen a steady stream of Trinidadians rushing to that country to cash in on the oil bonanza there. By next year Guyana will be producing around 1 million barrels of oil per day when Trinidad produced about 200,000 barrels at it’s height.
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Statement for CHL AGM on 25/2/2023:
This is to advise members of the company that I have made repeated demands for the company to provide all lawful information concerning the running of the company during the tenure of this Board led by Dawn Ford. Even though these requests have been made since the very early days of the Board's tenure and the entire board is well aware of what these demands are since they were properly circulated without reply then or now.
The company has systematically defrauded shareholders and recent revelations sent to the Board and shareholders show that this amounts to over two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) even before interest, that can reliably be shown based on the limited information available. The fact that they remain shrouded in secrecy speaks volumes as the true figure may be much higher.
My latest requests for transparency and accountability according to law sent to the board after this meeting was called, (dated 6th Feb 2023), is that it is unlawful for the Board to carry on meeting after meeting since it has been in office when no annual financials have ever been presented at any of these meetings since inception of this board.
I have made it clear on Feb 6th, 2023, that there will be no further participation until full accountability involving the board and the auditor(s) are corrected.
Before this letter dated 6th Feb 2023, I was literally told to take legal action if I don’t like it, while at least $200 million have been systematically plundered. It is no stretch to conclude that certain shareholders have benefitted in ways, (which has been circulating widely), through illegal slush fund payments and / or threat. That is something these shareholders will have to deal with themselves, but they have been told that these illegal payments do not bind them.
The bottom line is that some fear personal attacks for speaking out and have decided not to put their lives at risk. Others have been fed a diet of lies and misinformation which have been exposed from Mrs. Ford's own letters that shows the company through the Mirror / Punch subsidiary, has been turning a profit shortly after Mrs. Ford took over. In fact, just the opposite took place since dividends have dried up and the Mirror / Punch was eventually closed after tens of millions have been needlessly sunk into it since Ford took over, compounded by the handing over of the entire operation to her long standing friends for no money. Now Mrs Ford tells us that the financials for Mirror / Punch, (which were never brought to any AGMs), are with the receiver and we can take legal action, if we don’t like it.
My demands earlier this month for all this to be rectified has been met with silence as usual.
After my letter of 6th February 2023, I expected a statement from the Board stating how they propose to rectify what has happened at CHL and why the laws were not followed and especially what has happened to all the hard-earned assets and dividends easily valued at over $200 million. I have not received any reply whatsoever, so I assume the board will continue breaking the law as has been done for the past 12+ years.
It is not possible or acceptable to come in 2023 and present financials for 2022, even if an auditor is present, when all the assets have already fraudulently and systematically been disposed of for a few dollars or worse.
There is no doubt in my mind, that many shareholders have been infected with fear and/or bribes to stay quiet since the suspect / questionable deaths of many persons associated with the company's illegal operations. Those persons include Wayne Chookolingo, Michael Hart, Suzanne Mills and Frank Thompson who died the same weekend as Mills.
I remain resolute in getting to the bottom of this criminal behaviour of the Board and let the buck stop where it must. I think we all know the answer to that. Whether we are too fearful or complicit with the CHL lawbreakers I intend to find out.
Daniel Chookolingo
P.O.A. for Francesca Chookolingo