‘Legislation is only effective as your resources allow’- DPP Roger Gaspard, SC
By Sue-Ann Wayow
DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, is awaiting another report from the Special Branch concerning the use of a multi-million dollar building in Port of Spain for the DPP’s Office.
He said that Special Branch officials were not the only ones to state their concerns about the building that was designated to be the new DPP’s office with monthly rent being paid by the State although not yet in use.
Gaspard told this to the Joint Select Committee (JSC) meeting on National Security in the Parliament on Wednesday.
He said he was also awaiting the findings of another report on the safety of the building that previously housed a Royal Bank branch at the corner of Park and Henry Streets, Port of Spain.
Gaspard said, “Last Friday, the AG, myself and others, including Special Branch, visited the building, there was a two-hour meeting and there is to be a follow-up meeting pending a report from Special Branch.”
He added, “My reluctance to take my staff into the building was predicated on what the experts said about the building and something nobody wants to say in the public domain, but I will say it.
“Recommendations to show up the vulnerabilities of that building did not first come from the Special Branch, it came from the Ministry of National Security and the technocrats of the Ministry of the Attorney General, not Roger Gaspard, the DPP. I always said I do not have the expertise, I do not have the forte.”
Gaspard spent the majority of the meeting that lasted about two hours speaking of several issues concerning the DPP’s office some of which he had previously mentioned publicly.
At the beginning of the meeting, he said, “Legislation is only effective as your resources allow.”
Gaspard also admitted he was embarrassed by the slow pace of the justice system.
“Like any right-thinking citizens, the pedestrian pace of matters by way of carriage through the courts is something that concerns me and embarrasses me deeply, and it should embarrass all major stakeholders in the criminal justice system,” he said.
The issue of the unused building was raised by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley during a political meeting after Gaspard spoke about other issues at the DPP’s office, mainly staffing on radio.
At a later press conference, Dr Rowley stated there was no attack on the DPP’s office by him as claimed by the Opposition.
JSC member Dr Roodal Moonilal said given all the challenges of the DPP’s Office, he was surprised that the Office was still standing.
AG’s interference
However, at the meeting, Gaspard disclosed that there was interference by an attorney general whom he did not name.
One example of interference he used was a planned staff retreat for members of his office.
Gaspard said, “Let me spectacularly highlight my situation… some time ago someone who occupied the chair of attorney general had a conflict with someone who occupied the chair of DPP. During the pendency of that conflict the DPP’s office would have or before the conflict crystallised, the DPP’s office would have arranged to have a retreat and a training session with the staff.
“Because of the conflict, that attorney general, in his wisdom, then decided to indicate to the DPP that because of that conflict he’s not allocating any resources for the training retreat… This happened as a fact and I am speaking from my own knowledge.”
Gaspard said with an office important as his, enshrined in the country’s Constitution, that if the DPP’s office was in need of a scanner, whether or not it is sourced, should not be dependent on his relationship with any attorney general.
He also said, “The AG has no place in the executive decision-making of the Director of Public Prosecutions.”
JSC’s chair Keith Scotland asked, “Are you saying that there is an intervention by the office of the AG in the decision-making process of the DPP?”
Gaspard responded, “I am not saying that there are interventions by the AG, put the incumbent aside, bearing in mind my institutional memory there have been attempts at interference in the DPP’s office and I am speaking from my own knowledge.”
Scotland asked if those attempts were brought to anyone’s attention to which Gaspard said through writing, persons were informed.
Also sitting in for the first time as a member at the JSC was recently appointed Minister in the Ministry of Works Richie Sookhai.
He asked Gaspard what his staff number should be in 2023 given that a request was made in 2013 to have the DPP staffed with 137 persons, 37 of whom were already operational.
Gaspard said the number should not be less than what was requested in 2013 as the DPP was still not yet staffed with the required personnel and should in fact be more as there were developments in the judicial system over the ten-year period.
Deputy DPP Joan Honore-Paul who was also present at the meeting said the AG’s Office controlled the HR aspect of the DPP’s Office.
