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.
First Published: September 24, 2024
‘Urgent’ Hit Put Out On Newsday Founder, Daniel Chookolingo
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Investigators Given A List of Suspects Who May Be Behind Hit
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Word In The Underworld Is that There’s A Bonus Of $1 Million If the Hit Can Be Achieve Without Guns
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Message To Chookolingo Is That No Attorney Will Take On His Case and ‘Betray’ the Judiciary
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Blowing Hot & Cold: Ford Suddenly Tells Court It Does Not Have Authority To Hear Corruption After She Put It Before Court
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Chookolingo Case Is That The Court Must Refer The Ford Corruption To The Police
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Those With Motives Are A List of Who’s Who in T&T
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Allegations Include: Fraud, Bribery, Conspiracies, Uttering False Documents, Obstruction Of Justice and Illegal Disposal Of Assets
Daniel Chookolingo has reported to investigators that he has experienced serious and usually stalking and suspicious activity since he filed documents in a new High Court matter where several high ranking attorneys and auditors have been implicated in the rip-off of hundreds of millions of dollars.
On September 9th Chookolingo filed submissions before Justice Nadia Kangaloo in the High Court matter # CV2024-01624 dealing with the theft of the Chookolingo newspaper empire by his estranged sister, Dawn Ford, who used the company bank account as a slush fund to make illegal payments to lawyers, auditors, shareholders and others.
Documents Chookolingo filed include a police report attaching several AGM minutes authored by Dawn Ford herself where all the directors, their attorneys, auditors and others were shown conspiring to bribe shareholders for over 10 years.
Chookolingo, who is the founder of Newsday newspaper which has created the bulk of the stolen assets, realised that the heightened level of surveillance against him corresponded with the September legal submissions that named the culprits in the corruption allegations. While investigators said they were informed by underworld sources that a hit existed for many years, it was renewed a couple of months ago with a $1 million ‘bonus’ offer for immediate results with a proviso that it is done to look natural or accidental. The hit is premised on the supposition that if anything happened to him the case would die a natural death before the December 2024 hearing.
After his observation on the stalking which is supported by car CCTV cameras of persons entering his car, Chookolingo called investigators to identify these persons.
Investigators asked Chookolingo to make a list of persons with a motive to attack him and they were supplied with a list of such persons which TTJF was able to get a copy of for readers, which is now published and reads like a list of who’s who in corporate T&T, see below.
The investigators were told that the Newsday corruption accusations have taken on a new sense of urgency because the case is now before Justice Nadia Kangaloo, who will rule on it in December 2024, in 2 months. What is before Justice Kangaloo is that these accusations involve the theft of hundreds of millions, fraud, conspiracy, manipulation of AGM minutes, bribery, the use of unaudited company funds as a literal slush fund to pay illegal dividends, the hiring of professional persons to make false statements and reports, uttering false documents, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, committing perjury, the illegal disposal of assets, failure to provide legally mandated annual audit reports for approval and failing to file same with the BIR amongst other illegalities.
Ford’s response to the corruption reports which was made to the police on 1st April 2024, is that Justice Kanagaloo does not have authority to hear any of this corruption. This contradicts what she has filed in the mater thus far since she admits knowledge of the corruption report to the police but now says that Justice Kangaloo ought not to pay any attention to it. One of the legal maxims is that parties are not allowed to blow hot and cold or contradict themselves or as lawyers say vacillate. In the case before Justice Kangaloo, Dawn Ford is saying that her brother Daniel is mentally unstable for reporting her and her co-conspirators to the police for corruption but has refused to deny any of the accusations which were confirmed in the AGM minutes. The corruption accusations are now squarely before the Court so the accusations are in the public domain and have implicated Deborah Peake SC, Michael Quamina SC, Michael Coppin, PKF auditors and other auditors who are duty bound to follow the law and not break it to assist any client. Meanwhile, a massive conspiracy to stop the case before adverse remarks are recorded, many that would pose problematic for all company audits done by PKF and indeed in the wider T&T corporate world, where it is suspected that this is not an isolated case of fraudulent audited reports. A major question that ought to engage Justice Kangaloo is how so many crooks could join forces which now makes this a criminal gang operation.
Daniel Chookolingo - Newsday Founder
Daniel Chookolingo made the police reports. He is appearing as his own attorney since he received a message that no attorney will dare represent him.
Following is the list of persons who have been identified to investigators with a distinct motive:
#1: Steve Castagne, colourful character Neelander Rampaul, Attorney
Steve Castagne who has a very colourful past within and without the insurance industry has been identified as a person with a motive. He is the primary beneficiary of the Chookolingo newspaper assets for $8 million dollars, an asset that keeps paying and paying. Castagne and Chookolingo first crossed swords in the 1990’s when Daniel Chookolingo had him removed as Newsday board chairman, he vowed at that meeting to take revenge. He has been manipulating Ford since the 1990s by telling her how to pass resolutions to sell him the lucrative assets. In 2022, Castagne sent Neelander Rampaul AKA Calder Hart’s power of attorney and personal assistant to direct the sale of the Chookolingo assets to him at an AGM. Her presence at that meeting is a conflict of interest. At the same meeting other resisting proxies were ejected to ensure the appearance of a unanimous vote. Corporate skullduggery at its ‘finest’.
#2: Deborah Peake SC,
schemer who has embroiled the entire legal system
who must make way for honest lawyers
Peake will go down in history as openly disregarding the sacred rules of the Court by preparing a false affidavit; most of the contents were also irrelevant but was meant to deceive the Court. She is the 1st known attorney who helped Dawn Ford maintain control of the family business strictly for personal gain, which was achieved by falsely accusing previous directors and employees with bogus accusations. Investigators in their professional opinion feel that her exposure to these criminal allegations makes her someone with a motive. Mrs Peake is estimated to be the richest attorney in T&T, right behind James Aboud, and only does legal work to openly manipulate the legal system and brag about it to her 1% friends since she does not need the money.
#3: Michael Quamina SC, crooked schemer
Must resign from LATT immediately
Michael Quamina infamously informed the Chookolingo clan that Dawn Ford failed to audit the accounts according to law and any voting was not proper as a result. The stupidity of it is that Quamina put in writing but yet he refused to resign or recuse himself from handling the matters for charlatan Dawn Ford. He now controls billions of dollars of the States money as chairman of Heritage Petroleum (formerly Petrotrin) after another set of lies were propagated to close down Petrotrin...so he is always at the centre of corporate mischief. This public exposure makes him a man with a motive according to investigators. When this matter reached the Law Association he is likely to be booted from LATT along with his partner in crime, Deborah Peake, SC. As chairman of Heritage Petroleum his pay package is about 100 times the average salary and he won’t be looking for a job anytime soon.
#4: Michael Coppin,
Schemer who took money
that will embarrass the legal profession
Michael Coppin will stand out as the most brazen, crooked attorney in this rip-off valued at an easy $200 million. He penned several letters for Dawn Ford with the most inane and frivolous tripe no one has ever heard of. On September 9th he was exposed in submissions that make him especially venerable since in represented Dawn Ford in the case before Justice Kangaloo he was identified as helping Ford break many laws to manipulate shareholders. Most of his work comes from his PNM friends which could be done on a consultancy basis if he is barred from practicing law. Investigators say he is definitely a man with a motive.
#5: Marc Superville, PKF,
Plotted and cooked the books
PKF is an internationally known name in auditing many people respected. But, PKF must know that T&T is not Canada or they are banking on the fact that you can get away with literal murder in T&T since there is no oversight by any corporate body except the infamous 1%. Marc Superville goes down as someone who conspired and plotted with Dawn Ford to say at each meeting the audits were not ready for at least 9 years and at each meeting refused to recuse himself for illegal conspiracy to defraud. His job at PKF depends on this matter disappearing from the court docket permanently and is a key person with a motive. His only job prospect now is at Newsday itself since he is persona non grata with all auditing firms in T&T and perhaps internationally.
#6: Dawn Ford, Spirited Hundreds Cindi Da Costa
of millions With the help 2nd Wayward Director with lipstick trademark
of professionals.
Under Dawn Ford’s watch, company dividends went from being increased rapidly every year since 1993 into steep decline and reversal to the point that shareholders were begging to take a small payment instead of getting zero as Ford insisted was the case if they did not sell. She made false accusations against those who built the company from a struggling entity to a hugely successful company that many people coveted including Clico and Jack Warner. Dawn Ford is Choko’s long wayward daughter who teamed up with her other wayward sister, Cindi Da Costa, to bamboozle all they came in contact with. Ford has been at pains to tell other family members that the allegations are false and explained that Justice Kangaloo’s decision will clear her name instead of simply answering the allegations of corruption one-by-one. Ford has never worked anywhere before and lived off family handouts, but her bank account is now overflowing from the slush fund. She explained to family members that the sale went through and the case is closed and refuses to answer any more questions on the illegal sale. Indeed, she has started to blame her attorney Mr Coppin for circulating the AGM minutes which contain admissions of her criminality saying the reason she employed Mr Coppin in the first place, was to evade liability. Investigators say she is a suspect.
Justice Kangaloo, all eyes on her December 2024 decision.
