Police charged David Lee in 2022 over a tax exemption. He called the charges a political witch hunt.
Housing Minister David Lee was first charged in September 2022 with misbehaviour in public office and conspiracy to defraud the State. At the time, Lee was the Opposition Chief Whip and the United National Congress MP for Pointe-à-Pierre. The charges, laid by police on Sept. 16, 2022, led to the case now back in the headlines after this week’s High Court ruling.
Police said the charges followed a March 2021 report. It alleged that between March and May 2019, an MP applied for and obtained tax exemptions on a Mercedes-Benz AMG G63 wagon, totalling $1,416,292.65. Investigators alleged the exemption benefited someone other than the applicant. The sum is made up of $293,094.02 in value-added tax, $298,650 in motor vehicle tax and $824,548.63 in customs duty.
Senior Superintendent Wendell Lucas of the Financial Investigations Branch laid the charges on the advice of Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC. Lee, then 63, surrendered with his two attorneys at the branch’s office at the International Waterfront Centre in Port of Spain around 1:35 p.m. He was arrested, charged and granted $1 million bail by a Justice of the Peace. He was due to appear before a Port of Spain magistrate on Oct. 12, 2022.
Lee denied wrongdoing, calling the charges a political witch hunt and a distraction. He said he would continue his duties as MP. The UNC condemned the charges and accused the then PNM government of using police operatives to embarrass him. Businessman Hugh Leong Poi was later charged alongside Lee with conspiracy.
A magistrate discharged both men in April 2025. The DPP then successfully challenged that decision in the High Court, and Lee and Leong Poi were rearrested on Oct. 7, 2025. On Wednesday, a High Court judge dismissed Lee’s challenge to the revived charges. He has not been convicted of any offence.
This report draws on the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, the Trinidad Express and Newsday.