Canada, to make a presentation to purportedly compete with BHC for the project manager contract.400 BHC’s role as project manager was essential to the securing of future subcontracts, so providing a façade of legitimacy was critical to the scheme’s success. The fact that payments from Trinidad and Tobago for the CP-9 and CP-13 contracts were transferred to Northern and Calmaquip also gave the appearance of legitimacy. It seemed logical that those CVs would receive the payments, because those companies actually bid on and performed the work.401 It is now clear that the companies were vastly overpaid for their work, but at the time, this fact was obscured by the rigged bidding process, which appeared legitimate to the public eye. Layering of Corporate Vehicles The Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT) was the government agency assigned overall responsibility for the construction of the airport.402 From April to November 2000, AATT paid funds into Calmaquip’s bank accounts at Dresdner Bank Lateinamerika, AG (Dresdner) in Miami, Florida, United States, for Calmaquip’s work on CP-13.403 Forty-five payments were made, ranging from US$20,461.95 to US$5,500,663.75, and amounting to more than US$29,095,477.404 After the money was deposited into Calmaquip’s Dresdner account, the conspirators used a system of layering to create levels of separation. On May 11, 2000, Raul Gutierrez, president and director of Calmaquip,405 wire transferred US$2,000,000 from Dresdner Bank to Bank Leu Ltd. on behalf of the company, AMA Investment Group (AMA).406 According to the indictment, that same day, AMA wire transferred US$1,500,000 from its Bank Leu account to the Bank Leu account of Argentum International Marketing Services, S.A. (Argentum). Over the course of the next month, Steve Ferguson, on behalf of Argentum, allegedly wire transferred from Argentum’s Bank Leu account to other bank accounts held in the name of various other CVs, such as Bocora Holding, Inc. (Bocora) and Maritime Securities Holdings Ltd. In August and September 2000, Gutierrez and Armando Paz, both directors for Calmaquip, also made numerous transfers on behalf of Calmaquip to the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria accounts of Empresas Sudamericana S.A. (Empresas). Later, Empresas allegedly would wire transfer money from this account to Argentum’s Bank Leu account. After sufficient layers had been created, the payouts were made into the bank accounts of the conspirators.407
400. Ibid. 401. Indictment, pp. 3–4, United States v. Gutierrez. 402. Ibid. p. 2. 403. Ibid. p. 8. 404. Ibid. p. 9. 405. Ibid. p. 1. 406. Ibid. pp. 9–12. 407. Ibid.
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