Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar refused to opine on the make up of the Commission of Enquiry (CoE).
But said she hoped its chairman, retired justice Sebastian Ventour, wears his impartial judge’s hat and not a PNM hat.
Back in 2015 when Persad-Bissessar was prime minister, Ventour suddenly resigned as deputy chairman of the Integrity Commission over a clash based on the Commission’s investigation into the Emailgate fiasco.
At that time the Integrity Commission wrote to Persad-Bissessar’s personal lawyer, Senior Counsel Israel Khan and told him that the commission’s investigation into the Emailgate matter was closed. Ventour felt at the time that the commission did not sufficiently investigate Emailgate, and said then that the content of the e-mails should also be examined.
But speaking at a media briefing in El Dorado yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said, “I will cast no aspersions. Some lawyer is going to make plenty money, a lot of money. I will not name them but you will read who they are.”
“I trust that Ventour will wear his judge’s hat and not his PNM hat,the lawyers are PNM lawyers, “ she said.
On Thursday, Minister of Communications Stuart Young announced the Commission of Enquiry into the $500 million spent to acquire lands for the billion dollar highway to Point Fortin. Young said that Ventour could chair the CoE, assisted by attorney Gregory Delzin, will chair the commission. Senior Counsel Reginald Amour will also serve on the commission, assisted by attorneys Venessa Gopaul and Rishi Dass.
“Do a Commission of Enquiry into the handing over of a $21 million bribe to an official at the Ministry of Works,” she said.
“We spent the money, yes we did and I am very proud we spent money to deliver to the people of T&T.
You can touch the things we did, you can see it but what have they done with $229 billion in four years?” Persad-Bissessar asked.
“They talk about we spent money but I can show you where the money went. We could show you schools, we could show you police stations we could show you community centres, roads, bridges, hospitals,” she said.
“So now when people need jobs, people need food cards, children need books, uniforms, you cannot give them books, school transport, you cannot give a family a food card. Don’t get chain up by them,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said that if the CoE unearthed any wrong doing then she hoped the Government would lock up the wrongdoers.
“Bring it on and if anybody do wrong, lock them up. I will never uphold a breach of the law,” she said.
“Not on family get, not one friend,” she said.
Emailgate history
Back in 2013, when in opposition, Rowley brought a series of printed emails to Parliament and under the cover of privilege, read out the details of 31 email exchanges purportedly between the then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, attorney general Anand Ramlogan, national security advisor Gary Griffith and government minister Suruj Rambachan. In those emails read into Hansard, Rowley detailed a plot to harm a journalist and payment of money to buy freedom for an unnamed person.
Back then, Persad-Bissessar referred the matter to the Commissioner of Police, Director of Public Prosecutions and the Integrity Commission. Ramlogan had then said that the email purported to be his did not exist.
In a letter dated May 19, 2015, the Commission’s registrar Martin Farrell wrote 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”.
Khan is the legal counsel for both Persad-Bissessar and Anand Ramlogan in the emailgate affair.
President Anthony Carmona appointed Justice Zainool Hosein in November 2014 to head the Commission.
Ventour disclosed the commission held a meeting on the same day that Hosein sent that letter to Khan and said at that meeting he did not like the way the discussions were going and he left.
The letter was sent to Khan without his approval or consent.