Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has made a formal request to Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Joan Honore-Paul to recuse herself from involvement in the investigation into the Emailgate case.
In a letter sent to Honore-Paul through her lawyer Israel Khan, SC, yesterday, the Prime Minister told Honore-Paul that she had breached her constitutional remit when she issued a press release last week, in which she criticised Persad-Bissessar and government ministers for claiming that the thread of controversial emails raised by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley in Parliament two years ago were fake.
Khan said, “One would expect that statements emanating from your independent constitutional office would, by their timing and tenor be fair and politically neutral, to avoid any perceptions of partiality in this politically sensitive matter. You have apparently crossed the line and have entered the political arena.”
As he accused Honore-Paul of being biased against the PM, Khan described the contents of her lengthy statement as irrational and prejudicial.
“It is simply confounding and irrational to say the least, to investigate allegations contained in an unauthenticated series of documents in order to verify and authenticate the very said documents!” Khan said in his six-page letter.
Khan also criticised Honore-Paul for failing to acknowledge the government’s stance that the emails were a fabrication designed to assassinate the character of the PM.
“That you will discount this very real possibility and refuse to request the police to investigate with equal passion and fervor the source of these documents is alarming. It now appears from your statement that this is an assumption of guilt and my client is expected to prove her innocence,” Khan said, as he noted that it was his client who called upon acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams to initiate the investigation.
Khan also said the PM was within her rights to initiate a private investigation and reveal the findings of it in the public domain.