CoP tells Moonilal: Politicians can't tell police what to do

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith has responded to comments made by Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal, who said the case of AV Drilling was still open. Griffith said politicians did not have the authority to direct the police to investigate any matter.

On Wednesday, Griffith announced that the investigation into accusations by Moonilal that the Prime Minister benefited from a financial transaction connected to A&V Drilling in Florida was closed and was a waste of resources and taxpayers' money.

In response to the announcement, Moonilal insisted the case was still open and being investigated.

In a media release on Thursday, Griffith maintained there was no evidence to support Moonilal's claim against Dr Rowley and encouraged him to give any evidence he may have to the police.

"In the extant matter, the Fraud Squad and the FIB would have sought the assistance of the FIU to acquire evidence of all financial transactions between the alleged parties, and no identifiable transactions connected the parties.

"If MP Moonilal has evidence not discovered by the TT and the United States FIUs, he is advised to bring it forward."

In response to Moonilal's comments about the wire transfer, not the bank account, being the focus of an ongoing investigation, Griffith said bank accounts were necessary to reveal who would receive the money being transferred.

"Once a transfer hits an account, it will show the originator's account information. So to say one was only looking at bank accounts and not wire transfers is incomprehensible because the transfer has to hit an account."

Griffith also explained, the police must rely on the Financial Investigations Unit to obtain information and evidence on fraudulent transactions.

During his contribution to the 2018 budget debate, Moonilal claimed to have documents that linked Rowley to a bank transaction in Florida that involved the AV Drilling company.