The Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) supports a call by the Law Association for a thorough, impartial and comprehensive investigation into the Section 34 e-mail probe.
The Law Association made the recommendation in a press release earlier this week, urging the police to use the best resources possible because of the importance of the matter to society.
General secretary of the PNM Ashton Ford, in supporting the law body’s call on Wednesday, said the association and all citizens should be appalled by an “unseemly rush” to judgment on the matter.
Ford said citizens should also note with concern “the tendentious approach” being taken by the Government. He said the matter was a legitimate one for investigation by the authorities.
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, who read the e-mails during his presentation of a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in May, is being investigated by the Privileges Committee on the issue.
During the debate, Rowley gave some of the contents of the e-mails, which addressed the Section 34 fiasco, offering the Director of Public Prosecutions a judgeship and the intimidation of a T&T Guardian journalist who broke the story.
The e-mails were purported to be from addresses belonging to the PM, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Local Government and Works Minister Suruj Rambachan and national security adviser to the PM Gary Griffith.
Persad-Bissessar and her Government have denied any knowledge of the e-mails, and the PM wrote to acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, asking for them to be probed. Williams in turn mandated DCP Mervyn Richardson to head the probe.
According to Ford, Rowley has “co-operated fully” with the police investigation so far.
He said, however, the PNM considered it “a real threat to our democratic institutions that not only is he being threatened with sanctions, but among his judges are people who have been identified as party to the matter and cannot be considered to be impartial.”
Forde said the PNM said it intended to vigorously protect the country’s democratic institutions.
Ford also spoke about the Landate matter involving Rowley, raised in 1994 by current leader of Government Business in the Senate Ganga Singh. Ford said the matter was the subject of a commission of enquiry and no action was taken against Singh, the complainant.
Landate was a private housing development project in Tobago in the name of the Opposition Leader’s wife Sharon Rowley.