"Madness."This is how People's National Movement (PNM) leader Dr Keith Rowley described Senior Counsel Israel Khan's letter to the Integrity Commission questioning its investigation of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's alleged involvement in the Section 34 e-mail scandal.
Rowley, addressing supporters on Sunday night at a political meeting at Lisas Gardens basketball court, Point Lisas, California, said: "The Prime Minister and the Attorney General (Anand Ramlogan) have questions to answer about the serious allegations levelled against them."He was referring to a news report on Sunday. The report cited a letter from Khan to the commission stating the probe will find the e-mails to be a "fabrication."
Rowley said that was the "level of madness" taking place in T&T today."They hire the most expensive attorney to ask them (the commission) if they are serious and that the investigation will show the Prime Minister to be innocent. So the Prime Minister's lawyer is now telling the Integrity Commission do not bother to investigate the Prime Minister because it will show she is not guilty of anything," Rowley added.
He said Persad-Bissessar was bound by law to answer all questions asked by the commission during its investigation into the scandal involving her and senior Cabinet members.During his debate on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in May, Rowley gave some of the contents of 31 e-mails.The e-mails addressed the Section 34 fiasco, offering the Director of Public Prosecutions a judgeship and the intimidation of a journalist who broke the Section 34 scandal.
On Sunday Rowley expressed outrage over Khan's letter to the commission.He said it was tantamount to telling the police how to investigate and who to investigate.While he said citizens were not bound by law to tell the police anything, he added: "You are bound by law to co-operate with the Integrity Commission."He said Parliament created a new law for public officers like the Prime Minister and in that situation "if you are asked to provide information you have no choice.
"Our Prime Minister is under serious allegation, (she) hire an expensive lawyer to not answer the Integrity Commission... That is crazy," Rowley told supporters.He said there was an absence of moral and spiritual values in T&T and it was up to citizens to change the direction of this country.Rowley was alarmed at Sunday's report which spoke of a series of text messages between a minister and a director of a state enterprise calling for a crocus bag to collect money.