Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has called on Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley to give up the whistleblower who passed him the information on the Section 34 e-mails, saying that person had misled Rowley to lie in Parliament. “The person responsible for this defamation, this libel must pay for that. Hand over the criminal, Dr Rowley,” Persad-Bissessar said during the United National Congress’ Monday Night Forum in Warrenville, Cunupia. “You must come clean to the country and tell the public who was the fabricator of this evil.”
Persad-Bissessar made the comment to supporters after earlier making reference to media report which quoted acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams as saying the e-mails were a fabrication. Rowley produced the e-mails in parliament during a no confidence motion against Persad-Bissessar on May 20. The e-mails allege efforts to undermine the judiciary, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the media. Persad-Bissessar and her colleagues have denied any knowledge of the e-mails, but the PM mandated Williams to probe the complaint, and he in turn appointed Richardson to head a six-member investigating team. Yesterday’s report marked the first time that Williams had spoken to the authenticity of the e-mails. He, however, noted that the police were still probing whether the content of the e-mails represented actual conversations between individuals in the ‘Emailgate’ probe.
She also reiterated her fears that former chairman Jack Warner would do what Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and others did in 2001- bring down the duly elected Government. “You must remind him that all betrayal brings destruction,” she told supporters. “Your former MP said on Friday he is against the PNM and he wants to be a member of our People’s Partnership. If that is so, why is he fighting the People’s Partnership candidate?” She also responded to Warner's request to join the PP if he were to win the Chaguanas West by election. “You cannot say you want to be a part of a coalition, but before you even apply for membership you engage in a war with a candidate who is endorsed by that coalition.” She said she was the leader of only one member of the coalition and could not speak for the other three parties. She told the crowd: “If any party wants to be a member of our coalition, the leadership of the coalition would make that decision. “But I have expressed my view, which is no.”