The Integrity Commission has cleared Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and members of the Parliament of any wrongdoings in the alleged "Emailgate" scandal on the basis of "insufficient grounds."
A correspondence from the Office of the Prime Minister stated that the Prime Minister declares this as a "major victory."
The full statement reads in full:
The Registrar of the Integrity Commission has today, 19th May 2015, written to Attorney-at-law Mr. Israel Khan, S.C. in his capacity as Attorney for the Hon. Prime Minister in connection with the "Emailgate" allegations.
In that letter captioned "Investigation into alleged 'Email affair' by the Integrity Commission, the Registrar stated:
"... the Commission, pursuant to section 34(6) of the Act is satisfied that there are no or insufficient grounds for continuing the investigation into the above matter and accordingly this investigation is hereby terminated."
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC has described as "a major victory" the Integrity Commission's ruling today (as contained in their letter of 19th May 2015) that effectively clears her and the Parliament of any impropriety with respect to the Opposition Leader's "fake email" allegations.
The Prime Minister said, "This is a major victory for the Office of the Prime Minister and the sovereignty of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. I am pleased the finding of the Integrity Commission has vindicated me. Of course I always knew that I had acted appropriately."
"Now we can move on to the real issue here. That is the Opposition Leader's arrogant actions in misleading the Parliament and impugning members of the Government"
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said: "If he will do this to Office of the PM, what would he do to those less able to defend themselves. If elected whom would he bully and harass?"
"Now that the IC has pronounced and concluded their investigations, the country must move on to the real issues facing us and resolve to deal with the challenges that face us at this time.
The Opposition Leader's leadership is again called into question and once again it shows that he is unfit to lead our country".
Saying she felt humbled by the Integrity Commission's ruling, the Prime Minister added: "I thank all those citizens for their deep concern and support during what has been a sordid period."
Read more in tomorrow's Guardian as Gail Alexander reports fully on this matter.