Deputy Police Commissioner (Crime) Mervyn Richardson has been appointed to lead the investigation into the authenticity of e-mails read by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley in the Parliament on Monday. Acting Police Commissioner (CoP) Stephen Williams told the T&T Guardian Richardson was appointed yesterday morning, less than 24 hours after the matter was brought to his attention by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
During Monday’s debate on the no-confidence motion brought against Persad-Bissessar and her Government by the Opposition, Rowley alleged there was a sinister conspiracy by key government ministers to deal with the fallout from the early proclamation of Section 34. Rowley produced a series of e-mails allegedly emanating from addresses belonging to Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and other cabinet ministers referring to the Section 34 matter, which arose last September.
The e-mails also revealed alleged plans to offer the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard a judgeship, and discussed the intimidation of T&T Guardian reporter Denyse Renne, who broke the story. On his way to a function last evening, Williams took a few minutes to assure that the matter would be thoroughly investigated. “DCP Richardson was assigned to conduct the investigation today (yesterday),” he said.
Because of the nature of the matter and the ramifications of the outcome of the probe, as well as the time necessary to do proper investigations, Williams said he was unable to say when it will be concluded. However, the acting CoP said: “Guiding him along on the importance of the investigation, which is now in the public domain, is the nation’s concern, as everyone is looking forward to the outcome. DCP Richardson will be treating this as a priority matter.”
Williams could not say how much assistance Richardson would require to carry out his investigations, but said: “The TTPS has competent people throughout all aspects of the organisation, including cyber crime. DCP Richardson is highly trained, and at the FBI level as well.” Williams said Richardson was free to choose officers to assist from wherever he felt necessary.