AG tours Park Street building as State continues efforts to relocate DPP's office

THE STATE seems determined to utilise a $600,000-a-month Park Street building to house the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as Attorney General Reginald Armour and technocrats from his ministry, along with the officials from the DPP's office and Special Branch police toured the building Friday morning.

On Friday, at about 10.25 am, Armour and the others jumped out of heavily tinted black Toyota Prados and entered the building through the basement. They spent close to two hours inside, leaving at 11.58 am.

When Newsday called Armour about the tour, he said he was not going to comment on it.

Armour also told Newsday he would not speak on any meeting he had with DPP Roger Gaspard, sticking to the refrain, “No comment,” even when asked what issue he would be willing to speak on.

Calls and messages to Gaspard went unanswered.

On March 9, at a PNM public meeting in Barataria, the Prime Minister first raised the issue of the DPP failing to occupy the Park Street building which cost the state $24 million to lease for three years as well as over $20 million in security upgrades.

In 2020, the National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO) held a ceremonial handover of the building, which has since been retrofitted to accommodate the DPP’s executive secretariat, administrative and support units, processing units and units for indictment and vault usage.

A Special Branch report said the building was still not yet safe and suggested additional work be done. At a media briefing on March 23, Dr Rowley said, after each security concern was raised by the Special Branch, the State responded and addressed the concern.

He said the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was the suggestion to erect a concrete wall on the outside of the building's own glass walls. That suggestion was rejected by the landlord near the end of the lease. Rowley said, since then, the building had been leased on a month-to-month basis.

After the issue was raised by Rowley at the public meeting, there were public comments from politicians and attorneys about the government and its role in adequately providing resources for the DPP.

Among the comments made, came a criticism by Armour that the DPP’s office was underperforming. This was in response to Gaspard’s claim that he was understaffed, which he said threatened the entirety of the criminal justice system.

In response to that, attorneys from the DPP’s office marched from it's current location at Richmond Street to Armour’s office a block away. They then hand delivered a two-page letter to the AG. The letter called on him to apologise for his critique as well as to highlight the issue of moving to the Park Street location.

A directive to relocate, they said, was a “further blow to our physical and mental well-being.” The attorneys vowed they would not occupy the building.

Rowley, at his media conference said the government had to decide what to do with the building having done all that it could to have it occupied by the DPP.

“The Government now has a decision to make if the DPP does not go into the building. We've spent millions outfitting the building, not just the rent. The contract is up. We have spent those millions to outfit it. Do we have appropriate alternative use for the building and can the landlord and the Government come to an agreement on that?”

He further queried whether it would be more feasible for another state entity to use the building given all the work that went into outfitting it. He said the issue of the state spending millions for an unoccupied building was very concerning to him.

“Before all this bacchanal came in the public domain, this was a matter of great concern to me. Unfortunately, it came to the public domain in the way it did” he said, adding that the government was zealously seeking to get out of renting buildings.