“Wade Mark is a sick, sick man.”

The words from a visibly annoyed Finance Minister Colm Imbert on Wednesday afternoon, as he held a press conference in an attempt to “set the record straight” following allegations from Opposition Senator Wade Mark that he fraudulently purchased a property in Port of Spain valued at $12M, for $1.7M

Senator Mark, during his contribution on the Miscellaneous Provision Act  the Senate on Tuesday, accused Imbert of money laundering and land fraud by denying government millions of dollars in stamp duty on the purchase of the property mentioned above. The allegation is tantamount to tax evasion. 

Minister Imbert said the claim is another example of Mark’s abuse of the Parliamentary privileges. “He always goes like a coward, into the Parliament and makes these allegations…personal allegations, not just against me but against my family. But he won’t come outside (of the Parliament) and say them so I can sue him for libel.” he said.

Minister Imbert explained that he purchased a company in 2012, while a member of the Opposition, of which the property in question was its main asset. Contrary to Mark’s claims, he said the property itself was not purchased by him. 

“I did not buy the land. There is no document that exists on this planet earth that Wade Mark can produce that can show that I purchased a piece of land…the fact is I bought the shares in a company” he said.

Imbert added that the $12m touted by Mark was inflated. “Knowing the kind of people that are in the Opposition, I made sure to get a valuation done by a reputable chartered valuation surveyor and that valuation came in at $7.5m for the company,” Imbert said.

Holding up his papers, Imbert showed a receipt from the Board of Inland Revenue for his payment of the Stamp Duty in accordance with the law.