Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday she could not await the conclusion of police investigations into suspended Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley’s Emailgate claim before acting to clear her and other cabinet ministers’ names.
She said it was critical that she do so now as the Parliament was close to dissolving.
Persad-Bissessar made the comment during yesterday’s tea break of the sitting of the House of Representatives, Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.
She said the Parliament had a duty to regulate itself notwithstanding investigations being conducted by the police.
“It happened in the Parliament, I had a duty to clear our names in the Parliament and it was important doing it now, having got the evidence and further, given the timeframe within which we have left in Parliament.”
Rowley was suspended on Wednesday from the services of the House, which means he will also lose his monthly salary, following a substantive motion brought by Housing and Urban Development Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal for failing to apologise for “patently misleading and scandalous statements” on the Emailgate scandal.
In May 2013, during the presentation of his unsuccessful motion of no confidence in Persad-Bissessar, Rowley made public 31 alleged e-mails involving Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other cabinet ministers, including then attorney general Anand Ramlogan. The e-mails revealed an alleged plot to murder a T&T Guardian journalist and bug the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in connection with the Section 34 matter.
The Government has continuously denied the emails existed and has said they were fake.
Yesterday, Persad-Bissessar told reporters she had a duty to clear her government’s name.
Persad-Bissessar stressed there were two reasons why the action was taken this week.
She said she “had a duty to myself and the members of my Government to have that record cleared in the Parliament, because now is when we got the evidence from independent sources.
“We got the evidence through court processes from Google, the Integrity Commission and the US Justice Department,” she said.
“Therefore, should we have not done this now, that would have stayed on the Hansard record for the rest of our lifetime. We would not have been able to clear that record.”
She said it was for that reason “why I could not await the work of those (police) who have been, rightly or wrongfully so, taking their time to do it.”
Persad-Bissessar was also asked to comment on a threat by Rowley to release new e-mails. She said she did not hear his comments but insisted that the first question people should ask was “are those fake, fabricated or true e-mails. Thereafter, we check them out and if they impugn me in any way I will take such action as necessary.”