AG to whistleblowers: Come and sing your soul

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi in Parliament. FILE PHOTO
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi in Parliament. FILE PHOTO

ATTORNEY General Faris Al-Rawi has invited whistleblowers to “come and sing your soul.” He made the comment while piloting the Whistleblower Bill in the House yesterday.

He said the bill was a campaign promise of the Government and one of the critical tools to ensure the quality of evidence results in convictions. He explained the bill is to protect people who make disclosures from detrimental action and to define the process.

He reported the prosecutorial audit of the police service showed there were thousands of corruption cases but only hundreds would make it to court. He said the matters did not proceed because witnesses could not be found. He added witnesses are frustrated by preliminary enquiries which could take 20 years and also face intimidation, threats of murder and assault.

He said the bill was before a Joint Select Committee but one Opposition Senator refused to support a single aspect of the bill. He added it was evident as chairman of the committee that there would be no agreement. He explained the bill provided if reporting was done to one of the 21 designated agencies.

“It is not a law designed to go tell the media and go and scandalise people’s names.” He said the bill is retrospective and will apply to what this administration has done in the past four years and to the previous administration.

“It will apply to a PNM Government. Everything this Government has done.” Al-Rawi said libellous and defamatory information and fake news “Cambridge Analytica-style” given anonymously will not prevail.

He said the bill requires a three-fifths majority and he was asking the Opposition for support.

“Are you prepared to encourage whistleblower protection to give citizens a fighting chance? To combat corruption?”

He said once passed the bill can be proclaimed with immediacy. Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal in his contribution said he was a whistleblower and for that he is in court today. He said it was important to protect whistleblowers from death than from civil liability. “Is not to escape civil liability; it is to escape a coffin.”

The Prime Minister in his contribution said the legislation was not an act of urgency for any specific piece of information but as part of efforts to restrain runaway corruption.

He said Moonilal came to Parliament calling his name and if there was whistleblower legislation in place, he would not be protected. “You would have to answer for serious misconduct,” Rowley said.

He said Moonilal expressed concern about who would appoint whistleblower officers but this was not a “real point” as people had been similarly appointed as procurement officers. “It reminds me of a cousin of mine who refused to get married because he ‘fraid to get horn.”

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"AG to whistleblowers: Come and sing your soul"

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