On Monday, Israel Khan, SC, who is representing Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the e-mail probe, claimed he was dissatisfied with how the police team was conducting its investigation. Khan claimed he, on behalf of his client, had written to the police team, headed by DCP Mervyn Richardson, since June 10 indicating the PM’s willingness to co-operate fully with the investigating team and laying down certain conditions for this process.
However, he said the police were yet to respond to this letter, adding they were dragging their feet on a serious case with far reaching effects. Following is the letter which the PM sent.
Statement of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, as requested by Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr Mervyn Richardson by letter dated 24th May, 2013. I am the Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. When I took the oath of office on 26th May, 2010, I swore on the Holy Bhagavad Gita to uphold the Constitution and the law and do right to all manner of people without fear or favour, attention or ill will. I have conscientiously, impartially and to the best of my ability, been discharging my duties as Prime Minister in this regard. I wish also to state that I have been an attorney-at-law for the past twenty six (26) years, during which time my character has been impeccable and, I have maintained a strong commitment to honesty, fair play and justice for all.
I wish to place on record that from the very inception of my Government, the Leader of the Opposition, Honourable Dr Keith Rowley, had been predicting the downfall of the duly elected Government. Several unfounded criticisms have been levelled in Parliament against the Government and in particular the Prime Minister and Attorney General in various “no confidence motions,” filed by the Leader of the Opposition. I viewed the unfounded criticism as the normal cut and thrust of the politics in our parliamentary democracy.
But during the last ‘no confidence motion’ filed by Dr Keith Rowley in the House of Representatives, he stated on Monday 20th May, 2013, that he had in his possession a document which revealed thirty-one (31) e-mail messages involving the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and other ministers, and a public official which connected us to a wheel “criminal conspiracy.”
Indeed he stated that “the Government of Trinidad and Tobago was engaged in criminal conspiracy.” (Source: Hansard, Dr Keith Rowley, House of Representatives, May 20, 2013).
He stated to the country at large, under the protection of parliamentary privilege, that the aforementioned persons were involved in conspiracies to murder, pervert the course of justice, to spy on the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and procure from the Chief Justice a “judgeship” for the DPP in order to remove him from the Office of the DPP. There were several other allegations of criminal acts.
I wish to emphatically and categorically state that I did not send or receive any such e-mails as alluded to by the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Keith Rowley. Indeed I am of the opinion that persons unknown (at this point in time) have hatched a nefarious and diabolical plot to damage and scandalise my good name and to bring the Office of the Prime Minister and the Government into odium, hatred and disrepute.
Consequently, I welcome this investigation. You will recall that it was I, as Prime Minister and leader of the Government, who reported this matter to the police within hours of the unprecedented and scandalous revelation of these false allegations.
Thus, I will readily adhere to the request made by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Mervyn Richardson, that I make available to the police investigators the electronic devices used by me to send and receive e-mails during the month of September, 2012, but, I am constrained to do so in the presence of my attorney-at-law and my information technology (IT) expert.
I am the chairman of the National Security Council and there is sensitive data on the said electronic devices concerning the safety and security of the State and other matters of a confidential nature and, I am advised by the Senior Counsel that the police investigators in this matter should only examine and inspect the said electronic devices used by me for the month of September, 2012, in the presence of my attorney, my IT expert and myself.
Senior Counsel is of the opinion that this modus operandi of inspecting and examining the electronic devices will afford not only protection for the integrity of my electronic devices, but for the police investigation. Such an exercise in Senior Counsel’s view will ensure that the inspection and examination of the said electronic devices remain transparent and above board for all concerned.
I offer my full cooperation in the police investigation into this matter and hope and pray that the police will soon discover the perpetrators of the wicked and malicious falsehoods made by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Dr Keith Rowley. I am also advised by Senior Counsel to attach to my statement a report which he commissioned from Mr Jon Berryhill, a computer forensic investigator, of Berryhill Computer Forensic Inc abased in the United States, vis-a-vis the authenticity of the purported e-mails disclosed by Dr Rowley.
I am very much obliged and if there is any other assistance I can render to you in your investigation into this matter please feel free to contact me via my permanent secretary or my attorney-at-law, Mr Israel B Khan, SC.