Political leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) David Abdulah is calling on Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar to instruct Attorney General Anand Ramlogan to step down from office and to use the mutual legal assistance treaty this country has with the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to seek assistance in investigating the e-mails read in Parliament last week by Opposition Leader Keith Rowley.
“It can be triggered tomorrow (today) when vice-president of the United States Joe Biden visits T&T,” Abdulah said yesterday, at a public forum on local government hosted by the MSJ at the Fanny Village Community Centre in Point Fortin.
During his contribution on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar and her Government on Monday, Rowley read out 31 emails purported to have come from addresses belonging to Persad- Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Local Government Minister Suruj Rambachan and several other high-ranking officials.
The e-mails, Rowley suggested, detailed a conspiracy in relation to Section 34 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act. Yesterday, Abdulah said the only way to arrive at the truth regarding the e-mails, in a way that every single citizen could be satisfied, was to have an independent and impartial investigation by a competent professional knowledgeable about cybercrimes and information technology (IT) matters.
“The perception in society has become so politicised that the only way to arrive at the facts and truths in a way that every single citizen can feel comfortable is if that person comes from outside of T&T,” he said. He said the mutual legal assistance treaty is an agreement between two countries in order to gather and exchange information to enforce public or criminal laws. T&T entered into a mutual legal assistance treaty with the United States in November 1999 and with Canada in January 2000, he noted.
Abdulah said there was a crisis of public confidence and trust arising from the e-mails. “If authentic, the writers of the e-mails would be guilty of serious crimes and therefore cannot be in government,” he told the gathering. He said if the e-mails were not true, then Rowley and the credibility of the People’s National Movement (PNM) would also be irreparably damaged. Abdulah also called on Persad- Bissessar to remove Ramlogan as Attorney General pending an investigation into the e-mails.
“We are insisting that Anand Ramlogan be removed as Attorney General while this investigation is taking place,” he said, adding anything less than Ramlogan’s removal would not allow for a transparent investigation or good governance. He said all the parties named in the e-mails should also hand over, computers, I pads, phones and hard drives to be investigated. “If you have no cocoa in the sun, hand over your hardware.”