Lawyers for global search engine Google Inc have requested another month to compile information for the Integrity Commission to help in the ongoing E-mailgate probe. Lawyers for the body will now have to wait until the end of the month for the critical information from the US-based firm. This is the second extension granted by the lawyers for the commission, as Google’s first extension request lapsed on September 30.
The commission’s deputy chairman, Justice Sebastien Ventour, yesterday confirmed they had granted the second extension. “We allowed them to have it,” he said in a telephone interview. When pressed for details, Ventour said he could not comment further at this time. “I am prepared to disclose anything of substance to the people but I am not going to speculate,” he said. Ventour said he was also prepared to let the law take its course on the extension time.
“If it is overdone or absurd then I will be pressed to find out why but it is wise to let them have the additional time,” he said. Ventour is heading the probe as chairman Ken Gordon has recused himself from the matter. The matter was first brought to the public’s attention by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley during a motion in Parliament in May last year. He had read out a thread of e-mails in the Section 34 fiasco, which he claimed alleged serious misconduct on the part of those involved.
The e-mails were purported to have come from addresses belonging to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and three other senior ministers. Persad-Bissessar and her colleagues denied any knowledge of the e-mails and claimed they were fabrications but the PM subsequently ordered a probe into the matter.
This continued investigation by the commission comes after Ramlogan received confirmation from Google that the e-mails in question did not originate from his address. It was later revealed that the commission’s probe is seeking to investigate different parameters to Ramlogan’s search.
AG happy
After being told Google had sought more time yesterday, Ramlogan said he was “happy” Google Inc was “taking its time” to respond to the commission’s query. “The allegations are quite grave and carry serious consequences for both Dr Rowley and myself. The future of both our political careers depend on the outcome of this investigation,” he said. Ramlogan said If the alleged e-mails are authentic he should be “charged, prosecuted and jailed.
“If they are proved to be fabricated and fake, then Dr Rowley’s credibility will be destroyed and he should resign and be prosecuted for criminal libel,” he said. He predicted that it is “only a matter of time before Rowley started to downplay his role in this matter,” adding he is “confident” he will be vindicated in the matter. “So I hope Dr Rowley is prepared to face the consequences of his recklessness,” he said.