PM calls for police probe into Chief Secretary's bribery claims

The Prime Minister hit back at Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine’s allegations made at a special sitting of the THA on Wednesday, calling for a probe into accusations made in the assembly of bribery.

“I hereby call publicly, not in any conspiratorial meeting, on the TT Police Service to proceed to investigate any and all people who took part in this suborning of testimony” Dr Rowley said at media conference held at the Diplomatic Centre in Port of Spain.

“There are provisions in the law to treat with people like that. This attempt to slander my name is now a police matter as far as I know, and I expect the police to do their job without fear or favour; without malice or ill will.”

Rowley opined that the actions taken in the assembly on Wednesday were tantamount to witness tampering and called for an investigation into all those who were involved in the act.

Rowley said,“The chief secretary has said that, as a result of what he has produced in the assembly, he has exonerated himself and has voiced that he sees no need for him being investigated. So as far as he's concerned, he has done enough to put an end to the investigation that was actively underway.

"That takes us into the territory of attempting to pervert the cause of justice.”

On Wednesday, Augustine in a special sitting of the THA, provided a video with a man who purported to have had meetings with Rowley, who offered him a sum of money to sign an affidavit implicating the Augustine in grievous misconduct.

Augustine went on to accuse Rowley of weaponising the police against political enemies, including himself.

Rowley said he is now seeking legal advice on the statements made in the THA. He also denied the allegations unequivocally.

“(The) person who is now known to you the media, who would have assisted in that production at the chief secretary's home apparently is a person not known to me.

"I never met him. I don't know his name except for recently. I never had any contact with the person or any similar person. And I've taken no part in any operation to undermine the assembly in any way.”

'Abuse of privilege'

Rowley said the act of using a recording of a “stranger” – a citizen who does not have any privileges to speak in the THA – was an abuse of the house.

He lambasted Augustine for flying in the face of the standing orders by which the house stands, in what he described as an attempt to exonerate himself from accusations of illicit activities.

“The chief secretary does not have the right under law or provisions of the assembly to do what he has done,” Rowley said.

“The question that has to arise now, based on what has happened today, is whether the Tobago House of Assembly Act, where provision for immunities and privileges are made, whether in law those privileges are superior to the privileges that are provided to the Parliament under the Constitution.”

He said he knew of no provision that would allow the chief secretary to solicit testimony and, with approval, share it in the assembly.

“To give voice to a stranger to make uncontested allegations against the country's leadership, is an absolutely reckless, horrendous abuse of the Tobago House of Assembly and whatever modicum of privilege it may have.”

He said it would fall to the courts to decide whether the actions taken in the THA on Wednesday were right or wrong.

He added that Augustine made his presentation on the wrong standing order, as he should have spoken under personal explanation.

He also knocked the presiding officer for allowing the presentation to progress.

Expressing concern over the perception of the police given the allegations made, Rowley said he would not entertain any conversations of the TTPS being used a political football.

“The TT Police would have had reason to pursue indications where crime might have been committed. If politicians want to go on a platform like the Opposition did last night and jump up and down, then it's a free country, still you simply make a fool of yourself.”

He also knocked the Opposition Leader who, in a political rally on Wednesday, echoed the allegations made by Augustine in the THA.

“She used a political platform to use the Tobago House of Assembly outrage as what she calls vindication for her slanderous statements she was making before,” Rowley said.

“As far as she's concerned she has found the proof of what she was saying. And she had a little imp with her saying, 'See what I was telling you? I was being used against people for political reasons.'

"I'm saying all those who hang their hat on that peg, you better hope that there is no provision for me to seek recourse in the court of law.”