Yes investigate Leaked Flying Squad report; but what of Reshmi and Section 34?

By: Tony Fraser


The average follower of political issues could not be faulted if he/she concluded that Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has a hidden agenda having regard to  his consistent seeking to make leaking of the document of the Police Complaints Authority on the re-formation of a New Flying Squad the real issue instead of focusing on who authorized the illegal reincarnation of the Randy Burroughs’ creation. The chief legal officer of the Government must be given the right to require that there be full investigation into possible wrong-doing by government and state agencies.  He has every responsibility to ensure that the government fulfil its promise of transparency in government as distinct from the alleged corrupt practices of the Patrick Manning regime.
However, to legitimately exercise such a right, Attorney General Ramlogan has to be consistent. He has to require answers to several instances of questionable, unexplained and un-investigated expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars in a non-transparent manner. He has to explain troubling decisions for which only unsatisfactory explanations have so far been given.
For instance, a new and crusading for transparency and integrity Attorney General Ramlogan must have investigated how a low level technical officer (Reshmi Ramnarine) was catapulted into the office of director of the Security Intelligence Agency. How could this young lady, who presented "false papers", have avoided scrutiny by the security agencies, including the Ministry of National Security? (Minister- Brigadier, John Sandy defended her appointment in the Senate)
 Ramlogan must know that there is need for answers for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar insistence that the national community "move on" from the scandal without satisfactoryanswers.
So too should Ramlogan know that the government's sacrifice of then Justice Minister, the hapless Herbert Volney, coupled with the Prime Minister's attempt to camouflage the issue and to tell the country that he, Attorney General Ramlogan, was out of the country when the decision on Section 34 was taken were attempts at deception which require investigation.
There is yet another mystery that requires the AG to call for an investigation.   Why did his Prime Minister harbour a minister within her cabinet for over three years while several international organizations such as FIFA, and countries including the United States of America and the United Kingdom, made serious allegations against him in relation to alleged corrupt activity running into hundreds of millions of United States dollars.   Why did the PM not insist that her minister face an international tribunal and the International Court for Sport Arbitration to answer allegations against him, Mr. Attorney General?
Surely, an Attorney General conscious of the need for Trinidad and Tobago’s international reputation for integrity and transparency to be upheld would be interested in having such an investigation done - even if after the fact.
What of the cavalier approach of the cabinet to agreeing to spend $7.5 million to retrieve a fire tender worth less than $1 million from a ditch? That gross waste of tax-payers dollars must surely warrant some form of investigation to find out why was the expenditure, in relation to the value of water tender, not queried by the collective cabinet.There are many more puzzling decisions taken by the government which warrant serious investigations to eradicate corrupt behaviour in public office compared to the possible leaking of a document.
Moreover, while the AG is seemingly convulsed by the leaking of the PCA report, what of the obvious need for an investigation into what the Authority identifies in its report as the very questionable actions of the National Security Operations Centre Director, Garvin Heerah, in facilitating the existence of an illegal security service which contracted hundreds of thousands of tax- payers' dollars seemingly without ministerial and or cabinet approval?
The shortcomings of the People's Partnership government are numerous - failed attempts to divert attention away from poor decision-making; the unsatisfactory manner through which it has sought to deal with corrupt activity within the government and  the cabinet;  cheap politics - often based on ethnic preferences, refusal to pass legislation on matters such as procurement of goods and services so that the country will know that billion-dollar contracts have been transparently and fairly awarded.
Attorney General Ramlogan you are absolutely right!!  Investigation of the leaking of the PCA report is necessary.    But if you fail to call for investigations into those “unsolved mysteries” as listed above, and the many, many more, without substantiated answers, then citizens could legitimately conclude that you have “cocoa in the sun” on those matters.