Police Investigating Many MPs – Rowley

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‘Every Tom must sit on his own bottom’ – Dr Keith Rowley

 

By Sue-Ann Wayow

THERE are many members of Parliament who are being investigated by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) says Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

And he will not be defending any member of his Cabinet as each person is responsible for his or her own conduct while in public office.

He said that he will not allow the Opposition to instil uncertainty in the minds of citizens by not addressing serious allegations especially as it concerns a member of his government.

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On Thursday during a press conference, Dr Rowley spoke at length about the allegations raised against Minister of Youth Development and National Affairs Foster Cummings which were raised by Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial exactly one week ago.

Cummings has since held a press conference defending himself and has threatened to file legal action to which Lutchmedial said she has plenty of court clothes.

Dr Rowley said he cannot simply ignore the statements made by the United National Congress (UNC) Opposition as the intent is to mislead citizens, promote mischief and put the country in disarray just to gain political points.

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He said, “There are many members inside the Parliament who are in front of the police facing serious police investigation for serious criminal conduct including the last Special Branch report that I got and the reason why they (Opposition) behaving like this is for one particular purpose… As the wheels of justice turn and the moving finger writes, they want the public to believe that all of us is the same thing.”

“A callaloo of corruption,”Dr Rowley said was what the Opposition wanted to cook up but he had no fear of that.

He said, “In my government, if any member of my government including myself has a problem with the law, then the law will and must take its course.”

Dr Rowley challenged, “And I defy the UNC to say the same thing with a straight face.”


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He said, “I make no defence for anybody in my government, in my party because we are all individually responsible for our conduct in the context of the oath we have taken on an individual basis.

“We have not taken a group oath. Every single one of us took an oath, one by one and we are responsible there.”

The prime minister added, “Every Tom must sit on his own bottom.”

Dr Rowley declared himself as the “most forthcoming” prime minister in the country being open with issues and frequently availing himself to the media for public scrutiny.

He said when allegations were first raised by the Opposition concerning Cummings, he made an inquiry about the facts.

Holding a file in his hand, the prime minister said, “Had those allegations been found to be correct, there was no way that they would have gone unattended by the prime minister.”

He also took a jab at the Opposition saying that he was unaware of any action taken by its leader and former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar upon receipt of Special Branch reports.

MP writes Parliament 

Dr Rowley also questioned if a member of Parliament was interested in only the Special Branch report on Cummings having written to the Parliament asking for an investigation.


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“I see the Member for Oropouche (East) has written to the Parliament asking for a Parliamentary investigation into a Special Branch report. I want to ask the Member for Oropouche if that request is only to be confined to that singular Special Branch report or did he make a mistake and not invite the Joint Select Committee to ask for, receive and investigate in public every Special Branch report involving any Member of Parliament,” he said.

If it is that he is only interested in that report only or others, he must state that, Dr Rowley added.

Dr Rowley said if he wanted to play the same game, he could simply bring all the Special Branch reports he has, “many of them” and make them public.

Take Special Branch reports with a pinch of salt

He also advised citizens on the job of the Special Branch.

Dr Rowley said, “The interesting thing about Special Branch reports is that the reports are graded meaning you take it with some condiments or some salt depending on who is saying it, where it came from and so on. It is an initial alert, it is called an intelligence-gathering but it by itself is not evidence. It has no place in court or no weight in court.”

 


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Referring to the Special Branch report produced by Lutchmedial, Dr Rowley said if there is something for the police to act on, they will act on it.

He said he had to be careful in dealing with police matters because there was a call for him to act on the report but as Prime Minister, he had no business in telling police officers how to do their job.

 

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