Young: I never knew of UNC arrests

Minister of National Security Stuart Young, right, speak at the post Cabinet news conference held at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, on Thursday. Looking on is Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert. PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE
Minister of National Security Stuart Young, right, speak at the post Cabinet news conference held at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, on Thursday. Looking on is Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert. PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE

MINISTER of National Security Stuart Young said he had not been told beforehand when the police arrested former attorney general Anand Ramlogan and Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen on Wednesday over the questionable payment of legal fees under the former administration. Young was speaking at yesterday’s post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.

He said, “As the AG said very clearly, all arrests are performed by law enforcement. The decision as to criminal charges is again a decision of law enforcement, and possibly and potentially the DPP.”

He said the DPP was in charge of prosecutions and under section 90 of the Constitution, and only he/she can discontinue prosecutions.

“So all those decisions, the building of evidence etc for all criminal charges, are done by the TT Police Service and the DPP and law enforcement arms.”

Young said the Office of the Attorney General had done certain work.

“Part of being in Government is if you know there is wrongdoing, what do you do?

"It’s like every other citizen. You can gather evidence and then that can be passed over to law enforcement and then law enforcement will then drive the process.”

Young said since the Government came in, the AG’s office had been looking at certain things, with any evidence being passed on to law enforcement.

“You’ve asked directly whether as minister of national security (I had) any involvement (in the two arrests.) The answer is no. I may get a briefing after a fact that a high-profile person has been charged, but there is no consultation with me as minister of national security before the fact.

“There is no meeting of myself with the police, before the fact of any of these matters. That did not take place. So I may be told afterwards that a high-profile person, or a public person in TT has been held, has been arrested, and then I’ll be told if and when they are charged.”

Young said he got regular briefings on intelligence-driven operations of the police and his ministry, such as if a known gang leader had been arrested.

“As minister of national security you get a lot of security briefings throughout the course of a day, some more formal than others.” He said he would not now interfere in Ramlogan's.

Reporters asked about Vincent Nelson QC’s appearance in court yesterday on corruption charges.

“What I’ve been informed is that Queen's Counsel Vincent Nelson did go to court this morning. It is the utilisation of the plea-bargaining legislation recently passed by Parliament and driven by this Government. So Vincent Nelson did enter into a plea-bargaining process and my understanding is he was formally charged. He has pleaded guilty, entered into a plea-bargaining process and there is a sentencing that is to take place.”

Asked about the AV Drilling case against a friend of the Prime Minister, Young said the matter was before the DPP’s Office which must now decide if they wanted to build a case.

Otherwise, he said the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau (ACIB) had been moved from the AG’s office to that of the Police Commissioner.

Asked if Nelson’s guilty plea was detrimental to Ramlogan and Ramdeen, Young said he did not know and advised everyone to wait to see what happened while saying he trusted the process.

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"Young: I never knew of UNC arrests"

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