Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams will today address issues raised over a statement he reportedly made on the Section 34 e-mail fiasco. In a brief telephone interview yesterday, Williams, who returned from South Africa on Monday, said he planned to address all the issues related to him which occurred during his absence, at today’s weekly police press briefing at 11 am at the Police Administration Building in Port-of-Spain.
Last Thursday, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Honore-Paul described statements attributed to Williams relating to the ongoing probe as “shocking, irresponsible and grossly reckless.” She was commenting on a newspaper article in which Williams was quoted as saying the e-mails were fake.
The statement reportedly referred to the 31 e-mails allegedly exchanged among Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Local Government and Works Minister Suruj Rambachan and national security adviser to the PM Gary Griffith.
The e-mails were read out in Parliament by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley on May 20. The PM and her colleagues denied any knowledge of the e-mails and labelled them as fake, but the PM subsequently ordered Williams to probe the matter. Williams in turn mandated Deputy Commissioner Mervyn Richardson to head a six-man team to investigate the e-mails.
Commenting on the report last week, Honore-Paul said: “The statement of the acting Commissioner of Police in such circumstances indicates that he was not sufficiently alive to the fact that by speaking to the press in these terms he would have allowed others to opportunistically and conveniently misuse his comments and thus may have contributed to the erosion of public confidence in the integrity of investigators and indeed, the investigation.”
She said the investigation attracted “widespread attention” and “provoked comments” with respect to the ability of the police to “conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.” The Police Service Social and Welfare Association, through its general secretary Michael Seales, had also called on Williams to “clear the air” and said the association’s members were saddened by the state of the relationship between Honore-Paul and Williams.