National Security Minister Gary Griffith and Works Minister Suruj Rambachan say they are not worried about the progress of the probe into e-mails read in Parliament by Opposition Leader Keith Rowley last May.
The probe, which is being conducted by the Integrity Commission (IC) and the T&T Police Service, saw progress being made this week after more than a year, as Google has been made to comply with a request by the commission to provide information on certain E-mails. This was a result of an application by the commission in the District Court of California last week. Google has been given 14 days to respond to the decision.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Rambachan said he was not concerned with the commission’s progress. “As far as I am concerned, it was a hoax in the first place. There is no question as to whether those e-mails were real or not,” he added. He recalled he had already written to Google and was told the e-mails did not exist.
Rambachan said he had no feelings on the issue one way or the other. “I hope that when the truth comes out, those who created the fabrication would be charged and would not hide behind parliamentary privilege,” he said.
Griffith, who was the first minister to hand over his electronic devices to police following the allegations, said he too was not bothered. “I did what was required and submitted my devices from day one. Nothing was found by the police and if something was found they would have said so,” he added.
Griffith said it was obvious someone was trying to be mischievous and the e-mails were a fabrication. He added:“Too often people operate based on perception and old talk and gossip. “Every Friday there is a rumour of an attempted coup or some type of national emergency. It is too often that gossip becomes reality. We need to start waiting on facts. “It was clear that those documents were typed up by someone and people wanted to believe them.”
Griffith said there was no shred of evidence and numerous irregularities on the document read in Parliament by Rowley. “What the Integrity Commission is doing now should have been done a long time ago to put this to rest,” he added.