ONE of the biggest and most controversial contractors in Trinidad and Tobago’s building history died yesterday after a long battle with bone marrow cancer.

Hafeez Karamath, 52, the owner of the contracting firm Hafeez Karamath Construction Ltd, was yesterday buried at the El Socorro Muslim Cemetery hours after he died at his multi-million-dollar Valsayn home before noon.

Surrounded by his family and closest friends, Karamath fell violently ill at the weekend and complained of pain throughout his body, according to Maulana Shiraz Ali, one of Karamath’s closest friends.

Ali said Karamath was able to drink holy water from the city of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia and said he recited final prayers before his death.

His funeral service, which was held at the cemetery according to strict Islamic rites, was attended by approximately 300 people and lasted no more than 20 minutes and many mourners had to walk to the cemetery because of a traffic pile-up.

Karamath spent the latter part of his life attending court hearings relating to the Desalination Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Desalcott), where he was charged along with American Joseph Ben Dak and Israeli Daniel Hoffman.

The State alleged that on January 1, 1998 and August 25, 1999, Karamath conspired, along with Ben Dak and Hoffman, to defraud the State, by dishonestly arranging for a water supply contract to be awarded to a joint venture between Hafeez Karamath Engineering Services Ltd and Ionics, known as the Desalination Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Desalcott), by the State, through the Water and Sewerage Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (WASA). The preliminary enquiry against Karamath, who was out on $1 million bail, never got off the ground in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court.

Karamath was also the contractor of the ill-fated Government housing project at Beverly Hills in Laventille and the multi-million-dollar Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba.

In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, family friend and confidant Maulana Ali said every business man ran his business in whatever way he saw fit, but the way he ran his personal life was always different.

’When Hafeez came forward and told me his side of the story, it was because he had arrangements with other contractors who just did not understand that Government takes time to pay,’ he said.

Ali, himself the managing director of Low Cost Supermarket in Munroe Road, Cunupia, said, in spite of the controversy surrounding Karamath, he always found time to dedicate his time and money to charitable causes.

’He was building dozens of masjids around the world, not just here at the Darul Uloom (in Cunupia). And he was involved in other water projects, not just Desalcott. He was digging wells in Africa and India because he wanted to help the people there,’ Ali said.