Housing Minister and Leader of Government Business Dr Roodal Moonilal is adamant that statements made by former Integrity Commission member, retired justice Sebastian Ventour, has in no way diminished statements made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar that she had been vindicated in the matter.
Moonilal was fielding questions from reporters after a key distribution ceremony held at the Housing Development Corporation’s (HDC) Port-of-Spain head office, yesterday.
Following the commission’s termination of its investigation into the Emailgate matter, the PM had declared herself vindicated and said the termination was proof that Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley was unfit to lead the country.
In a letter dated May 19, 2015, the commission’s registrar Martin Farrell wrote to the Prime Minister’s attorney, Israel Khan, SC, stating that pursuant to Section 34 (6) of the Act, the commission was “satisfied that there was no or insufficient grounds for continuing the investigation” into Emailgate “and accordingly this investigation is hereby terminated.”
However, after tendering his resignation on Thursday, Ventour stated that he had made his decision because he disagreed with the commission’s statement on the probe since the investigation was not yet completed. Another member, Dr Shelly-Anne Lalchan, had also resigned on Wednesday.
Yesterday, however, Moonilal said as far as the People’s Partnership (PP) Government was concerned the matter was concluded, adding that Ventour was entitled to his opinion.
He also knocked Ventour for making statements to journalists rather than taking his concerns to President Anthony Carmona.
Addressing Ventour’s comment specifically, Moonilal said, “I think he (Ventour) gave an interview in the press and it was a bigger interview than any candidate appointed so far for the 2015 general election.
“I was a bit caught by that because he saw it fit to go to the public and not the President. I thought that being a member of the commission first and having a grave concern, he ought to have taken that to the President who appointed him and, I think, who appointed him twice.”
He said the workings of the commission were peculiar to that organisation. “We operate on official information and the Integrity Commission has indeed terminated their investigation.
“Whether they did that by unanimous decision, a consensus decision, a split decision, a knockout decision...the matter has ended as far as the Integrity Commission is concerned.”