United States attorney Jack Russo, who is representing Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the Emailgate matter against Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, has blamed a “clerical error” for the typographical errors detected in an email to the PM.
Russo, in a brief email issued yesterday, also apologised to Persad-Bissessar after the errors caused a firestorm on social media Web sites.
Persad-Bissessar in turn posted the apology on her Facebook page just after noon yesterday.
She also made a direct comment to Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, saying: “Dear Dr Rowley, This is what an apology looks like.”
The letter read: “I sincerely apologise for the errors in my May 4, 2015 correspondence; as you observed, your email in the address line was incorrectly listed as kamlabp@gmail.com and the date period in the first paragraph should have been September 1st 2012 to September 30, 2012 instead of September 31, 2012.
“These typographical errors were the result of a clerical error and have been corrected in the enclosed letter.”
On Wednesday, Persad-Bissessar released a letter from the California-based attorney which was dated May 4.
It said there was no match between the Google-provided emails and the emails read in the House by Rowley in May 2013.
Persad-Bissessar had presented the letter as vindication of the Government’s decision to suspend Rowley from Parliament.
“Mr Rowley was suspended because he fabricated documents with serious false charges and introduced them in Parliament,” she posted.
But several critics who took to social media questioned the authenticity of the letter and even Russo’s qualifications.
One Facebook user wrote: “Lady, take your fake document and go with it from Trinidad nah.”
Another person commented: “This woman for real...na man...how the signature different. Plus who proofread that letter...I want to see a letter from Google not the attorney you hire.”
Even after the PM posted the apology letter yesterday, social media users again attacked its authenticity, pointing out that the signatures on the two letters did not match.
When the T&T Guardian called Russo’s office yesterday, a woman on the other end said he was not in office and she had no idea when he would return.
E-mails and messages left also were not returned.
Russo was listed as specialising in Internet, computer law and intellectual property litigation, according to information on the company’s Web site.