There is no completion date yet for the audit and review of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), which is now expected to go on for some time because of the scale and scope of the exercise, says Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
The Prime Minister gave the reply in Parliament yesterday, after UNC MP Rudy Indarsingh asked if an extensive review and audit of all personnel, equipment and processes within the SSA had been completed, after Major Roger Best was terminated as SSA head and other employees, including self-proclaimed spy, pastor Ian Browne, were also terminated last month.
Rowley said, "The audit and review is ongoing but it has involved many phases and while it's still going on we expect it to be going on for quite some time because of the scale and scope of the exercise."
Apart from the audit being undertaken by acting SSA head Anthony Phillips-Spencer, the police are also probing the involvement of agency operatives in several matters, including murder and illegally transferring guns.
The audit was launched in March, after the PM said several issues of national security had been discovered at the agency. At the time, he said it was discovered that state resources may have been used in criminal conduct.
Indarsingh yesterday also asked if the findings will be shared with Parliament's Joint Select Committee (JSC) on National Security when the probe is completed.
Rowley said, "We have a JSC going on, on the OAS (Point Fortin Highway) matter that my colleagues on the other side have no interest in and do not come to the (JSC) meeting hoping we get no quorum. So I'm surprised hearing him asking about JSC on National Security matters.
"I'm giving you no undertaking on a report I've not seen, as it's a matter of national security and I'll only bring to the Parliament appropriate serious information that can be brought and made public in the Parliament,"
Rowley also said "No" to UNC MP Rodney Charles' query on whether the recent upheavals in the SSA have compromised the intelligence-gathering capability of the TTPS and if this resulted in current unacceptable levels of kidnappings, home invasions, and murders.
Charles asked why the SSA wasn't able to identify the gangs in T&T while a foreign vlogger "could do so after one week in T&T," in an obvious reference to Canadian Christopher "Chris Must List" Hughes' interview with alleged local gang leaders recently.
Rowley said he knew Charles was desperate to raise his profile among his UNC colleagues, "But he's in no position to say what the SSA tells the police and what the police knows and what the SSA knows and shares with the police."
Charles asked if Government didn't "adhere" to the UNC's position about the non-performance of the SSA. Rowley said, "The only non-performance we've observed coming from that side is members criticising their leader."