Former attorney general Anand Ramlogan has called on deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Joan Honore-Paul and the acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams to broaden their investigation into Emailgate to determine who was responsible for “perpetrating this massive and dangerous fraud on the people.”
Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) leader Dr Keith Rowley who presented the emails in Parliament on May 20, 2013, must also “come clean and tell the nation the true source of the fabricated document,” he read in Parliament. “The conspirators must be exposed, charged and prosecuted,” Ramlogan said in a statement yesterday.
Ramlogan, who was removed from Cabinet in February in the face of witness-tampering allegations on a different issue concerning PCA director David West, had been named in the email issue which Rowley raised. The emails bore similar addresses of government officials, including the Prime Minister, Ramlogan, minister Suruj Rambachan and former minister Gary Griffith.
The Integrity Commission, which Rowley had called on to probe the matter, sent notice to the PM’s attorney on Tuesday, stating it had terminated its investigation because of “no or insufficient grounds” to continue the probe. Ramlogan said: “From the inception, I have done everything possible to prove these emails were bogus and fake. These findings are but the latest instalment of independent and credible determinations which confirm the lack of substance in these pernicious allegations.
“It is ironic Dr Rowley consistently placed his faith in the Integrity Commission and now that we have been cleared, he is suddenly attempting to shift the spotlight unto the police investigation. “It is amusing to say the least that he seeks to rely on the police investigation when he did not even see it fit to make a police report about these allegations of criminal conspiracy.
He noted: “Emailgate was a carefully orchestrated political conspiracy with the sole aim of destroying my character as well as that of the honourable Prime Minister and other colleagues. “It was a weapon of mass political destruction and the police must now investigate a real criminal conspiracy as they have been wrongly focusing on the victims of this fraud to the exclusion of the perpetrators of the fraud.
Light at the end of tunnel
Former national security minister Gary Griffith, whose name was also mentioned in the Emailgate investigation, said: “The Prime Minister has every reason to smile. She’s constantly stated that all which were in the emails were false. The Integrity Commission’s revelation was a big step in justifying that. It is hoped this is the light at the end of the tunnel, whereby this matter can be put to rest once and for all.
“Along with myself, the honourable Prime Minister with her other ministers, have constantly stated the emails were false. For the commission to now state that in their view the case is closed is an important development, not just to presume innocence of those affected, but to take away the stains this may have caused T&T internationally.
“This matter should not even have gone to the Integrity Commission or even the police in the first place. It sets a dangerous precedent whereby anyone can get an anonymous note with accusations of someone.”
Griffith said the police investigations to verify if anyone committed a criminal act, “which does not just include those whose names were included in the fabricated emails, “should also determine if others were involved in trying to waste the time of the police, if there was a deliberate plot to implicate those in Government, or even Rowley, via giving him the false emails to set him up. Hence, why the police investigation would take longer than that of the Integrity Commission.”
Griffith was removed from the Cabinet in February, along with Ramlogan, concerning a police investigation surrounding “witness-tampering allegations” made by Police Complaints Authority director David West.