Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has de­fend­ed him­self and his Cab­i­net, say­ing they had no role in the in­dem­ni­ty is­sue with King’s Coun­sel Vin­cent Nel­son in the now col­lapsed cor­rup­tion case against for­mer at­tor­ney gen­er­al Anand Ram­lo­gan and UNC sen­a­tor Ger­ald Ramdeen.

He, how­ev­er, as­sured that his Gov­ern­ment will not be de­terred in its quest to tack­le white-col­lar crime.

Row­ley made the com­ments as he spoke at the PNM Diego Mar­tin Con­stituen­cy’s 49th con­fer­ence on Wednes­day night.

He ques­tioned why Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar was call­ing for him to tell the coun­try if he and the Cab­i­net knew about the in­dem­ni­ty agree­ment be­tween the Of­fice of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al and Nel­son.

“I’m lis­ten­ing to the con­ver­sa­tion of the Op­po­si­tion Leader and she is ask­ing over and over and the me­dia is ask­ing over and over, in a sit­u­a­tion where mem­bers of par­lia­ment are hav­ing or should be fac­ing the court for steal­ing pub­lic mon­ey, it ap­pears as though the biggest ques­tion be­ing asked is where is the Prime Min­is­ter and where is the cab­i­net in this,” Row­ley said as he de­liv­ered the fea­ture ad­dress at the con­fer­ence.

“So let me an­swer all of you tonight in the UNC and the me­dia. The Prime Min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go, es­pe­cial­ly when the post is held by me, but in the Con­sti­tu­tion, it says al­so, the Prime Min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go has no in­volve­ment and no role in the pros­e­cu­tion of any per­son in this coun­try.

“So those who ask­ing where the Prime Min­is­ter in the mat­ter to do with the DPP’s ac­tion and the Vin­cent Nel­son mat­ter, the Prime Min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go has noth­ing to do with the pros­e­cu­tion and process­es against any per­son in this coun­try. So stop ask­ing for me.”

Row­ley said this coun­try’s Cab­i­net is not run like a par­lour.

“What mat­ter has to come to the Cab­i­net for the Cab­i­net to de­ter­mine if a per­son has a deal to turn state wit­ness? What the hell that have to do with the Cab­i­net? That is a mat­ter for the State’s le­gal de­part­ment, ful­ly staffed by lawyers, led by an At­tor­ney Gen­er­al, the DPP and the courts,” he said.

“So why is the UNC, and I want to say to me­dia too, why you all ask­ing, you all know some­thing else? But you see when Mrs Per­sad-Bisses­sar starts her stu­pid­ness, the echo cham­ber is the me­dia in­stead of ask­ing what does the Cab­i­net have to do with that, what does the Prime Min­is­ter have to do with that,” Row­ley said.

But de­spite this sit­u­a­tion and oth­ers, Row­ley stat­ed that the PNM will con­tin­ue to pur­sue white-col­lar crime in the face of chal­lenges.

“If you be­lieve that you make enough man­imah and threat­en enough and call for enough res­ig­na­tions and that would fright­en the PNM Gov­ern­ment against tak­ing ac­tion against crim­i­nals who dis­tress this coun­try, you have an­oth­er thought com­ing. Don’t waste your time,” he said.