Even as the police undertake an investigation into the marijuana find at the Phillipine, San Fernando, private residence of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Congress of the People (COP) leader Prakash Ramadhar says it is unlikely anyone will be charged.
Wearing his lawyer’s hat, Ramadhar said: “It will be almost an impossibility now for anyone to be charged, unless there is some other connecting evidence, or for one to even be implicated in possession.
“Because it is basically like a public place that area where it was found. I think a lot of furore is being created without real substance,” the Legal Affairs Minister said.
Two separate investigations have begun, one by the police and the other by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), to determine whether there was criminal or serious police misconduct in relation to the alleged attempted cover-up of the incident, as claimed by Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner.
Ramadhar expressed some reservations as well about the cover-up allegation.
“Well, I don’t know if there is a cover-up or not and I look forward to the investigation being completed so we will find the facts on the matter,” he said.
He cautioned that in this politically-charged environment, “where there is a lot of smoke and fury and where very little light is seen, we really need for an investigation to be completed so we will have a factual basis upon which we want to make decisions and judgment. To do otherwise would be irresponsible and reckless on my part.”
He said the aim of Warner, his former Cabinet colleague, in exposing all those files at this point in time was to assassinate the character of the Prime Minister and the People’s Partnership to prevent them from securing a second term.
Asked if he thought it would adversely affect the PP in the September 7 general election, Ramadhar said: “I could tell you a lot of it is intended to do just that.
“We have been victims of a lot of falsehoods of the past and allegations, some of which may have no merit,” he said.