AG: Working group to address gangsters getting state contracts

ATTORNEY General Faris Al-Rawi says a working group has been established to address the issue of alleged gangsters receiving state contracts.

The issue was raised by Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith and included in a Special Branch report. The Prime Minister, speaking at the sod-turning ceremony for the new Carenage police station on Tuesday, said the issue was difficult and had been happening for years, but promised criminals will be removed from state programmes.

Al-Rawi was asked what Government was going to do to address the linkage between gangsters and state contracts at the post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain.

He replied, "We will be making that public very shortly. We have a specific working group including the Commissioner of Police, the AG, the Minister of National Security, elements of the National Security Council and that is very high on the agenda with a very specific target."

Asked if this included a change in how contracts are awarded Al-Rawi replied "Strategy is not strategy if everybody knows what the strategy is.

"The mischief being identified, the problem being known, the last thing we want to do here today...is to inform the world how to avoid something."

He said "significant things" are in the works but some things just cannot be said.

Al-Rawi also spoke about Parliament being recalled next Wednesday to debate the Bail Amendment Bill 2019. He said previous amendments to the Bail Act moved kidnapping for ransom down to zero between 2008 to 2009.

He recalled, in 2011 the previous administration introduced companion bills for Anti-Gang and Bail Amendment and both were passed with support of a PNM opposition. He said a sunset clause was applied and in 2016 the PNM Government asked for an extension of both acts to continue no-bail provisions for kidnapping for ransom, gang activity and raping children and other offences, but the Opposition did not support it was allowed to collapse.