Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has denied giving any instructions for Jack Warner's diplomatic passport to be withdrawn. When asked about Warner’s claims about his diplomatic passport being retrieved, Persad-Bissessar said the Government does not do that.
"I do not have details of who would have requested it, but I presume that they have followed the process and the procedure in accordance with the regulations and rules surrounding the issuance of a diplomatic passport and the retrieval of such a passport," said Persad-Bissessar yesterday following a ceremony to open a new NP gas station in Charlieville.
Warner on Thursday said he was asked by the Immigration Department to return his diplomatic passport—on the PP Government’s instructions. According to Warner, he received a call from acting Chief Immigration Officer Keith Sampson about returning his diplomatic passport within one week. Persad-Bissessar said her experience with diplomatic passports was limited, as she received one during her tenure as a minister.
"For myself, I never had a diplomatic passport. The only time I got one was when I became a minister, so I presume that there is a process for the whole thing of diplomatic passports. I do not know the details of that matter because I gave no such instruction. I'm uncertain whether any minister could have done so, but as ministers we are issued a diplomatic passport and when we demit that office, we return them."
Persad-Bissessar said when she was a minister, she was assigned a diplomatic passport and then returned it when she demitted office.