PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Former Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Basdeo Panday was sentenced to two years in jail and fined TT $20,000 (U.S. $3,000) after he was found guilty on charges of failing to declare a bank account he and his wife Oma held in Britain.
Panday, 72, had been charged with deliberately failing to disclose the bank account to the Integrity Commission for three consecutive years, 1997, 1998 and 1999, while he served as Prime Minister of this oil rich Caribbean nation.
Panday was originally charged in 2002, but filed several legal actions challenging the validity of the claims in the local courts. The last application was deemed to be premature by the London-based Privy Council in February.
Panday, is the first former prime minister to be convicted on a criminal charge.
