Information relating to “many matters”, including yesterday’s detentions of United National Congress members, have been referred by the Attorney General’s Office to the respective authorities.
That confirmation came yesterday from Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, who was asked by media about the detention of Senator Gerald Ramdeen and former PP government attorney general Anand Ramlogan.
Speaking broadly, Al-Rawi said his office has done work on other matters apart from the current one. He was careful not to pronounce specifically on yesterday’s matters and to put distance between the developments and his office. He said they were “very serious matters” designed to be managed by a process involving the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Police Service.
“Due process is required and people will have their say in the respective forum they must,” Al-Rawi said.
He said the detentions were not an exercise by Government and dismissed UNC claims it was election-motivated.
Al-Rawi said the DPP and Police Service have their obligations to carry out justice in criminal matters and he had his remit as AG and “we must each keep within respective boundaries.”
He said Police Commissioner Gary Griffith was the best person to speak to or whoever was in charge on what the police were doing in conjunction with the DPP, as “that’s where the continuation of the matters will happen.”
Al-Rawi said his office has had no interaction with the Anti-Corruption Bureau, which now falls with the Police Service.
However, when asked whether his ministry had provided information to the police or DPP on the investigation into Ramdeen and Ramlogan, he said, “The Office of the Attorney General has discharged its duty on a host of corruption matters with alacrity and serious complexity. We’ve provided all that we must to the TTPS. Having a Police Commissioner or DPP take charge of a situation, that’s the discharge of their duties.”
He said his ministry has provided, in respect of a number of matters - including the current one - “very fulsome information.”
His office, he added, has been very busy, since Government was intent on ensuring it discharged its duties with alacrity and all material which was found was referred to the relevant authorities for action. But Al-Rawi maintained his ministry didn’t “cause “anything to happen.”
“What we did, is we did our jobs. We did the respective investigative aspects within the boundaries we have. We referred whatever we had to refer in many matters— not just current matters— we’ve referred these products to the respective authorities. I expect those authorities will be acting with the same degree of anxious alacrity that Government acts,” he said.
Al-Rawi said the public has asked for a long time for “justice to be done” and no one would see any “hot air” being blown at the public. He said when people ask Government to account for its action, Government must do so “respectfully with dignity and fairness for all involved in the process - that’s why I’m being as restrained as I am today.”
(G Alexander)