Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Glen Hackett says the police will most likely need to commission a forensic audit of the scrapped LifeSport programme in order to help them conclude their investigation in a timely manner. He made the comment during the weekly media briefing at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain, on Wednesday.
“This enquiry will be a protracted investigation because of the voluminous amount of material that has to be processed,” Hackett said. “It is likely that to assist the police service with the investigation into LifeSport, that we would have to commission a forensic audit so that it will inform us as to the parameters that transcends and superimposes itself on this investigation, and we would have a clear indication of the magnitude, because it appears, as the investigation continues, it is a big one.”
He said police had so far interviewed former participants in the LifeSport programme, employees of the Sport and Finance ministries and financial institutions. However, he added that police were yet to interview others. Among the documents police confiscated from the Ministry of Sport, he said, were contracts, payment vouchers, cheques, invoices, Cabinet notes, company registers and correspondence between LifeSport and the Sport Company and the Ministry of Finance.
The programme, which targeted at-risk youth, was scrapped by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in July, after a Finance Ministry probe revealed alleged procurement breaches, fraud, theft and that people at the co-ordinating level may have been involved in criminal activity. The PM also referred the report to Police Commissioner, Director of Public Prosecutions, Integrity Commission and the head of the Public Service.
On the investigation into the death of baby Simeon Cottle earlier this year, Hackett assured it would be completed by December 31. He said the investigators had obtained documents from the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Ministry of Health and other medical institutions and were now attempting to secure a copy of the government-appointed committee’s report to further assist in the investigation, which remains active.
Baby Simeon died from a laceration to the head after his mother, Quelly Ann Cottle, underwent a C-section on Carnival Saturday (March 1) at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital. On March 17, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan appointed a team of investigators, led by retired Justice Mustapha Ibrahim to investigate.
A report was submitted on June 6 and this was later sent to the DPP and acting Police Commissioner for investigation to determine if disciplinary action should be taken against the doctor who performed the surgery.