Moses: I was not trying to bypass customs

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Dennis Moses said he was not trying to bypass Customs when he returned to TT in September.

He was responding to an urgent question from Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie on whether Moses was returning from travel abroad when the incident involving him and an Airports Authority of TT security officer occurred.

Moses responded: "There was no incident per se between any Airports Authority guard and myself at the airport, Piarco, recently."

He said on September 20, as part of a national delegation, he returned from the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Guyana.

Tewarie asked why Moses was approached by the security officer while walking through the airport.

Moses said: "We returned from Guyana and as is the normal custom, protocol officers would have extended courtesies to members of the delegation, inclusive of processing members of the delegation through immigration. And subsequently we were guided through the airport as is usual and through the customs area, all the while following the protocol officers, who would have had the documents to go for processing, and guided to this gate, as would have been the normal practice. And all of that forms a usual part of the courtesies extended to us. No different, and indeed in a much more pronounced fashion, in my recent travels as recently as last month in facilities and terminals."

Tewarie asked if Moses was in any way seeking to avoid Customs.

Moses responded: "The answer is patently, categorically, unambiguously no. I was merely guided protocol-wise, followed as I would have done habitually."

"Why was the man suspended?" Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal asked across the floor.

On Monday, it was made public that security officer Kelvon Alexander was suspended on November 16 for two weeks without pay, for allegedly being discourteous to Moses and Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis on September 20.

On Wednesday, Alexander – supported by the Estate Police Association – issued a pre-action protocol letter to the Airports Authority. The letter was addressed to senior security officer Supt Avril Daly-Brassey, who signed the suspension letter. Attorney Kiel Tacklalsingh, in the letter, said the decision to suspend Alexander was an abuse of power “demonstrative of a sycophantic eagerness to appease public figures.”