[UPDATED] Sources: DPP not at fault for delay in moving into offices

THE delay in occupying a new building intended for the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is not the fault of the DPP, but of the security systems needed.

Security sources told Newsday it was not DPP Roger Gaspard who asked for bulletproofing and security walls, and therefore the delay in moving to the new building on Park Street was not on his account.

Speaking at a PNM public meeting at the Barataria Community Centre on Thursday, the Prime Minister raised the issue of a three-year delay in occupying the building because of various requests to make it more secure.

Dr Rowley acknowledged the DPP's complaints about the state of his department, but did not respond directly to Gaspard's comments on Wednesday about a severe lack of prosecuting attorneys.

But the Prime Minister revealed on Thursday night that the space on Park Street, Port of Spain sourced by the government for the DPP's Office remains unoccupied.

During an interview on a radio station, Gaspard complained of "an acute and chronic" staff shortage in his office which affected its ability to prosecute cases in every court in the country.

He revealed it has 58 attorneys, including some with little or no court experience, despite a Cabinet note of 2013, which proposed the DPP should have 137 attorneys.

The following day, at the PNM meeting, Rowley commented on what Gaspard had said.

"None of us in this country have all that we need. But you got to make the most with what you have."

Saying people would ask what the government was doing, especially in the face of complaints of "not enough lawyers, not enough lawyers," Rowley said he remembered it had been said the DPP didn't have enough space for lawyers.

"What did the Cabinet do, understanding that that office is an independent office?"

He said it had found offices, but: "After three years of finding executive offices for the DPP...not a footstep inside."

Newsday contacted Gaspard on Friday for a response to the Prime Minister's comments and was told he would seek advice from those wiser than him before commenting. Asked how long that might take, Gaspard said he could not say, only that he had no comment to make at this time.

Rowley revealed that Government was paying millions for the empty offices, the former headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), since it was bound by a three-year contract.

"You come and telling me executive offices for a bank is not good enough for the DPP's Office? Between the DPP's Office and police Special Branch, something went on there."

He said bulletproof glass was asked for and provided. Then came a request for a wall in front of the bulletproof glass.

"The landlord said, 'No, don't interfere with my building.'

"This is the kind of nonsense going on in this country, and it is easy to blame the government," he said.

The DPP's office is currently on Richmond Street, Port of Spain.