Senior Reporter
kay-marie.fletcher@guardian.co.tt
Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine is defending himself in the wake of a new claim by alleged whistleblower, Akil Abdullah, that claims attributed to him (Abdullah) last month against the Prime Minister and Commissioner of Police were false.
Furthermore, Abdullah now alleges that it was Augustine who coerced him to make the false allegations.
Augustine’s denial comes after a new audio recording began circulating on social media yesterday with comments purported to be from Abdullah, which alleged Augustine had forced him to fabricate falsehoods involving Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher and other top-ranking PNM officials.
Last month, Augustine claimed he had been told by Abdullah, during a meeting he (Augustine recorded), that Abdullah was involved in an alleged conspiracy involving Rowley, PNM officials and Harewood-Christopher, to embarrass and undermine THA officials.
Abdullah also alleged he had met with the PM and spoke to the CoP via phone to discuss the plan, for which he was allegedly offered a $270,000 payment to execute.
This, Abdullah alleged, was linked to his involvement in an ongoing police investigation into a leaked audio recording involving THA officials, among them Augustine, linked to a propaganda scheme using public funds.
Back then, the PM had denied the claims, saying he didn’t even know Abdullah and also threatened to sue him for the “baseless and false” allegations, but the TTPS launched a probe into the claims.
In the latest audio clip yesterday, however, the person purported to be Abdullah is heard saying he was coerced into making false allegations against the PM and CoP by Augustine and THA executive members.
In the audio, the voice is heard saying, “Farley called me. I did tell them some stuff but other stuff, they prompted me to say those things. Like the things that were actually not true. I never met with the Prime Minister. They prompted me to say those things. With Erla and they, that, when I was there, I was surprised that they wanted me to say those things. Yeah, they prompted me to even say those things. However, I did tell them that I met with Chadband and they prompted me to say well look, if you met with him, can you say well you know you got a large sum of money and they suggested, you know, the $270,000 or something and so on and so on and so on.” There were also claims of personal threats to comply with requests.
It added, “Some guys caught me and they box me up in my face. That was one. Another time, they ran me off the road. Pick me up from out of the drain that I, you know, dashed myself into and told me to comply when they ask me to do a couple of things. They outlined the couple things and I just was released and they went their way. So, they reached out to me and prohibited me from reaching out to the police. I was threatened twice verbally then it was the physical thing.
“So, when I went down Trinidad, they did ask me if my life was at threat and I did give the police that information. So, they knew that I was threatened and they did offer to put me in witness protection. And the way how they described witness protection to me, it was not favourable. They sent someone to check on my phone. They sent someone to check on my phone, so whenever the person come I had to give them my phone for them to go through to see if I was contacted ... I know what they’re capable of. They will want to see my phone and I will have to give them because when they start to beat up on me, what will I do? But it was foolish of me. You see, I couldn’t understand why they would want me to say these things. It’s only now I understand.”
While Guardian Media was not able to verify the source of the audio, as all calls to Abdullah went unanswered yesterday, Augustine, via a media release via his office, claimed that the person in the audio was Abdullah.
Augustine vehemently denied any suggestion that “he, or aides upon his instruction, forced or coerced “whistleblower” Akil Abdullah into a confession about the bribery and conspiracy that led to a police investigation into Members of the Tobago House of Assembly”.
Saying there is evidence that it was Abdullah who initiated several efforts to meet with him, which were all initially refused, before he finally agreed to do so in July, Augustine said, “The Chief Secretary confidently attests that there is more than sufficient evidence to refute any claim that Mr Abdullah was forced to meet with him. This supposed audio recording currently in circulation, comes subsequent to newspaper articles where Mr Abdullah has said he felt threatened after his statements to the Chief Secretary were revealed in the House of Assembly. Moreover, this back and forth and inconsistencies, forces one to ask the most important question: How is it that the TTPS predicate their case on this witness?”
Augustine also expressed concern that, to date, there has been no probe of the whistleblower’s claims.
“The Chief Secretary is deeply concerned that, to date, no independent inquiry into Mr Abdullah’s claims have been made and that there may be several individuals seeking to tamper with a potential State witness. It must then be surmised that this is yet another political attempt to create mischief and distraction to the work of the Tobago House of Assembly.”
Guardian Media also made several attempts to contact PM Rowley and CoP Christopher yesterday but they did not answer calls to their phones.
However, a member of the TTPS said a media conference addressing the matter is expected to take place today.