Attorney General Anand Ramlogan yesterday challenged Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley to give details of the House Committee parliamentary meeting which Rowley claimed discussed the $28,000 housing allowance being paid to President Anthony Carmona.
Ramlogan, who spoke to the media at his office yesterday, also called on Rowley to provide the minutes of the meeting and explain to the public why he had remained silent on the issue until now. “Did he want to let the matter die a natural death? Did he not see anything wrong with it?” Ramlogan asked.
He added: “You claim your party knew about and raised this for consideration by the Government. “It is clearly a blatant falsehood. If this matter was raised, one would expect it to be documented and that Rowley himself would have spoken out on it, as he is obliged to in the public interest, and bring it to the nation’s attention. Instead we learned about it through the media.”
Ramlogan said Rowley was operating under a very reckless political modus operandi. He added: “It is reminiscent of what he claims to have done when he revealed the so-called, fake e-mails. He kept it for six months. He was looking for something to say at the PNM convention because he had precious little else to say of note.”
Ramlogan said Rowley needed to give details as to when the housing allowance was raised before the House Committee. “I want him to produce the minutes of the House Committee to prove it was raised and I want him to say the date it was raised,” he added.
He asked: “I want him to tell us, if it was raised and not addressed to his satisfaction, what did he do, as someone who aspires to leadership of this nation? What did he do to bring the matter to the nation’s attention, to say something was wrong and therefore we should deal with it? “I ask this question to Dr Rowley: If the media didn’t break this story, would you have remained silent?”
Former AG to advise Govt on allowance
Ramlogan also revealed that he had retained the services of former Attorney General Russel Martineau to provide legal advice on the housing allowance.
The Ministry of Finance referred the issue to the AG on Friday.
Ramlogan said after consulting the Solicitor General, the decision was made to seek independent legal advice. “Suggestions have been made and I am considering those suggestions. We are speaking to people to see whether they will be prepared to advise the State on the matter. “One person who has in fact agreed to advise us is former AG Russel Martineau, SC,” he added.
Ramlogan said some people under consideration had been disqualified after speaking out publicly. He said Kenneth Lalla, SC, former chairman of the Public Service Commission, was one of them.