Government and Opposition officials have indicated their willingness to be interviewed by the police concerning the “E-mailgate” probe. Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams has also said the police will secure any and all expertise it needs for the investigation. The e-mails were produced by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley last Monday in Parliament.
The e-mails are purported to have come from addresses belonging to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Local Government Minister Suruj Rambachan and the PM’s National Security Adviser Gary Griffith. The content alleges criminal actions in a conspiracy on the Section 34 issue, extending to the intimidation of a reporter. Persad-Bissessar, Ramlogan and the Government have all denied any knowledge of the e-mails and have maintained they were a fabrication on the part of Rowley.
Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, who was also named in the e-mails, subsequently said any proper and thorough probe of the matter “should inevitably involve the questioning of the individuals named in the e-mails” among others, and it should also involve the services of “universally heralded and credible professionals” in such matters.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, co-operating with the probe, repeated on Friday that she was very willing to hand over her BlackBerry cellphone, laptop, iPad or any other computer devices to help in the probe. At last Friday’s PP rally in Chaguanas, she also stressed she was open to having the matter investigated by any agency or body apart from the Police Service. Yesterday, Griffith said he too was ready to co-operate with the police.
“I’m also willing to be interviewed by police, but no one has contacted me yet. I’m awaiting word from probers and I fully intend to hand over my cellphone, computer, etc, that may be required for them to check,” Griffith told the T&T Guardian. Rambachan pointed out he had said he would make all necessary equipment available. He stressed it would also include his e-mail account and “everything else” the police needed from him to do their work on the issue.
Ramlogan said he too had said he would make his equipment and whatever else was necessary available to police. When contacted yesterday PNM PRO Faris Al-Rawi said his leader was also ready to co-operate with the investigators. “Dr Rowley stands immediately available to assist the investigation which he’s called for,” Al-Rawi said.
He repeated PNM calls for a new Integrity Commission to be appointed quickly and to continue acting on probing the matter. He also said foreign entities must be involved in the probe through various mechanisms. Williams told the T&T Guardian on Saturday it was a given that the police would secure any and all expertise that would be required to investigate the matter. “As e-mail providers are generally US-based, we’ll seek and obtain all necessary help to access data from providers,” said Williams.
He also pointed out that deputy Police Commissioner Mervyn Richardson, who heads the probe, and ACP Glen Hackett, also on the six-man team, are both FBI-trained.