Renu­ka Singh

Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Gary Grif­fith con­fid­ed in a Cab­i­net col­league on Thurs­day he was ap­proached by At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Anand Ram­lo­gan to use his friend­ship with Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty head David West in or­der to con­firm "if West re­called the doc­u­ments" in the Sec­tion 34 defama­tion law­suit against Op­po­si­tion Leader Dr Kei­th Row­ley.

How­ev­er, Grif­fith ap­pears ready to pro­vide state­ments in the on­go­ing po­lice probe in the al­le­ga­tions against the AG to clear his name in the mat­ter. The col­league yes­ter­day said Grif­fith had in­formed them he was not aware of ex­act­ly what the "doc­u­ments" in ques­tions were but was just de­liv­er­ing a mes­sage on Ram­lo­gan's be­half when he ap­proached West in the mat­ter.It was on­ly lat­er on that Grif­fith in fact re­alised it was the Sec­tion 34 law­suit.

"It was on­ly when he (Grif­fith) con­tact­ed West that he was told to leave that sit­u­a­tion alone be­cause the mat­ter was be­fore the court that he re­alised what was go­ing on," Grif­fith;s col­league told the T&T Guardian yes­ter­day.

Ram­lo­gan had ini­tial­ly de­nied me­dia re­ports he had con­tact­ed West be­fore his ap­point­ment to the PCA, ask­ing him to with­draw his wit­ness state­ment in a defama­tion law­suit re­lat­ing to the failed ex­tra­di­tion in­volv­ing Sec­tion 34 ap­pli­cants Steve Fer­gu­son and Ish­war Gal­barans­ingh in ex­change for him be­ing se­lect­ed for the PCA job.But West on Thurs­day re­fut­ed Ram­lo­gan's de­nial, say­ing his rec­ol­lec­tion of the events were "di­a­met­ri­cal­ly op­posed" to the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al's.

West was al­so re­port­ed to have de­liv­ered a state­ment to the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP) but the T&T Guardian has learnt that while a de­tailed, signed re­port was de­liv­ered to the act­ing Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Stephen Williams, noth­ing has been de­liv­ered to the DPP yet.

The T&T Guardian was in­formed that the time­line of the al­leged dis­cus­sions be­tween Ram­lo­gan, Grif­fith and West was the crux of the grow­ing dis­cord be­tween the three, as Grif­fith has in­formed his col­leagues that he was on­ly pass­ing a mes­sage on to West.

Cab­i­net in­ter­fer­ence

When con­tact­ed yes­ter­day, Grif­fith said he was not speak­ing on the mat­ter."I have to be care­ful be­cause the mat­ter is be­fore the court but I can say that I am in no way im­pli­cat­ed," Grif­fith said.The T&T Guardian al­so learned that Grif­fith was re­fus­ing to back down or be cowed by his Cab­i­net col­leagues.When asked how that was af­fect­ing the cli­mate in­side Cab­i­net, the in­sid­er said: "Grif­fith not too wor­ried about that.

"He does not in­tend to re­tract or back down or not make that wit­ness state­ment be­cause his Cab­i­net col­leagues are try­ing to get him to back down."Grif­fith, the T&T Guardian learned, was "will­ing and ready to tes­ti­fy." Mean­while, West him­self yes­ter­day said he hoped the mat­ter would be in­ves­ti­gat­ed swift­ly and said he stood ready to play his part in the in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

West, who was in To­ba­go for a meet­ing in Ply­mouth, al­so dis­pelled the AG's claim that there was a po­lit­i­cal con­spir­a­cy against him say­ing: "I don't agree with his words. I gave a state­ment to the com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and that state­ment will be in­ves­ti­gat­ed by the Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice."

Cab­i­net in­ter­fer­ence

When con­tact­ed yes­ter­day, Grif­fith said he was not speak­ing on the mat­ter."I have to be care­ful be­cause the mat­ter is be­fore the court but I can say that I am in no way im­pli­cat­ed," Grif­fith said.The T&T Guardian al­so learned that Grif­fith was re­fus­ing to back down or be cowed by his Cab­i­net col­leagues.When asked how that was af­fect­ing the cli­mate in­side Cab­i­net, the in­sid­er said: "Grif­fith not too wor­ried about that.

"He does not in­tend to re­tract or back down or not make that wit­ness state­ment be­cause his Cab­i­net col­leagues are try­ing to get him to back down."Grif­fith, the T&T Guardian learned, was "will­ing and ready to tes­ti­fy."Mean­while, West him­self yes­ter­day said he hoped the mat­ter would be in­ves­ti­gat­ed swift­ly and said he stood ready to play his part in the in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

West, who was in To­ba­go for a meet­ing in Ply­mouth, al­so dis­pelled the AG's claim that there was a po­lit­i­cal con­spir­a­cy against him say­ing: "I don't agree with his words. I gave a state­ment to the com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice and that state­ment will be in­ves­ti­gat­ed by the Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice."