The decision by former deputy chairman Sebastian Ventour to resign his position on the Integrity Commission in expressing his disagreement with the other members of the commission has severely compromised the emailgate affair.
When coupled with the public statements of the Deputy DPP, Ms Joan Honor�-Paul, the reality is that the local investigation of the emailgate affair has been further compromised.
Given the public positions adopted by Ventour and Honor�-Paul, it will be difficult for the public to trust anything further that comes out of the Integrity Commission or the DPP's office in relation to this affair.
The police, who were considered unworthy to conduct this investigation by Dr Rowley in 2013, say that they are still investigating and that they are "apolitical."
The only reliable and trusted aspect of this entire episode relates to the court proceedings in the Supreme Court of California where Google Inc confirmed, under oath, through its Custodian of Records, that the emails in question were fakes.
There seems to be a debate going on in this country about "form and substance" in relation to the fake emails. The essence of that debate is that even though the emails are fakes, the story that they tell should be investigated. It would be interesting to see how the prosecuting authorities would handle tendering fake emails into evidence to lead a case against anyone for the narrative contained in the fake documents.
The deeper story here is the reality that the collapse of the credibility of the Integrity Commission itself started with a matter that they mishandled in respect of Dr Rowley himself in February 2009, involving the Landate affair which led to the resignation of the entire commission. That void of credibility has grown since that time with the collapse of another commission appointed by former president Richards in the space of eight days in May 2009. After appointing a new commission in March 2010, the then deputy chairman Gladys Gafoor was suspended by President Richards in February 2012, after refusing the wish of chairman Ken Gordon to recuse herself from hearing the John Jeremie investigation.
After the appointment of a new commission in July 2013, then deputy chairman Sebastian Ventour insisted that it was proper for him to remain a member of the Constitution Commission, while assuming duties on the Integrity Commission.
Ventour had public support from the Law Association President Seenath Jairam and former CCJ president Michael de la Bastide who took the view that he did not have to step down from the Constitution Commission while serving on the Integrity Commission. On the other hand, both Kenneth Lalla and retired justice of appeal Anthony Lucky felt that Ventour should have stepped down from the Constitution Commission.
About a month later, there was a release from the Ministry of Legal Affairs indicating that Ventour had resigned from the Constitution Commission. No reason was given although it can be noted that he had then taken over the emailgate investigation as Ken Gordon had recused himself from it over his controversial secret meeting with Dr Rowley at his home in May 2013, mere days before the fake emails were revealed in Parliament in a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister.
After that, Ventour resigned his position in February 2014, so that he could be sworn into office as a judge for a day to deliver three outstanding judgments that were pending when he demitted office as a judge. Three weeks later in February 2014, he was re-appointed to the Integrity Commission by the President.
There is no statement about what happened to the emailgate investigation during the period of his resignation and resumption of duty and no media house has asked him.
After Ventour's return to the commission, Sieunarine Jokhoo, the accountant, resigned in March 2014. He was followed by the appointment and resignation of accountant Joel Edwards in May, and July 2014, respectively. This was followed by the appointment of accountant Pete London in September 2014.
In November 2014, retired justice of appeal Zainool Hosein was appointed chairman of the Integrity Commission by President Carmona. He immediately found himself in a contentious confrontation with the media over his insistence that he would continue to serve as chairman of the Retired Judges' Association. A few days later, a press release issued from the Retired Judges' Association revealed that he had resigned from the chairmanship of the association.
Just like Ventour who insisted that he could stay on both the Integrity Commission and the Constitution Commission, and then he resigned from the latter without explanation, so too with chairman Hosein who resigned from the Retired Judges' Association without explanation.
I wrote a column last November 30, in which I questioned the application judgment by both office holders in adopting the positions that they did to holding their respective dual roles and then resigning from one without any explanation shortly after being so adamant initially.
As we argue over the content of fake documents, our prosecutorial and independent investigative institutions are burning out of control and they have compromised this case beyond repair.