Attorney General Garvin Nicholas has called out Opposition Leader Keith Rowley regarding his claim that he is “under attack” from the Government and given Rowley 48 hours to produce evidence of this.
Failing that, Nicholas has informed Rowley, he would assume the claim was false and would call on the Director of Public Prosecutions and the acting Commissioner of Police to launch an immediate criminal investigation into Rowley’s conduct.
Rowley has said that the Government was behind the plot to kill him and was also involved in paying people to lie against him, in reference to sexual harassment claims made by former journalist Anika Gumbs.
In a legal letter copied to the media, Nicholas also said he would take the matter to the Integrity Commission and Council for Responsible Political Behaviour
Nicholas added in a letter to Rowley yesterday, “It is highly irresponsible, reckless and dangerous for someone who aspires to the Office of Prime Minister to make such inflammatory and provocative allegations without a shred of evidence.
“In the absence of cogent and compelling evidence to justify such dangerous public utterances, your speech must be regarded as malicious character assassination of all members of the Cabinet.” Nicholas wrote Rowley yesterday regarding the utterances made by Rowley at last Sunday’s PNM meeting in Market Square, Tobago. Police recently said they were investigating reports of a death threat against Rowley and had increased security for Rowley.
It is the third such report of a threat against Rowley. Former national security minister Jack Warner in October 2012 had disclosed that Rowley received a death threat from “unknown persons.” In 2011, alleged threats against Rowley and PNM member Fitzgerald Hinds were also investigated. (see box). On the current matter, National Security Minister Carl Alfonso, who initially said he was unaware of the threat, subsequently said he was officially informed of the threat.
Rowley, in Tobago last weekend, said he was scared for his life and alleged he was under “attack from the Government.
Nicholas’ letter stated: “I note with grave concern the following public utterances made by you on a political platform at Market Square, Scarborough, on Sunday 9, August 2015.” Nicholas quoted Rowley’s words, noting Rowley had said, “Lo and behold, as I speak to you now, I'm surrounded by people who you pay (that is, police) to protect me from people who will have me killed...First time in Trinidad and Tobago, the Opposition Leader is under attack from the Government.
And when I'm not under attack from their friends who they hire to kill me, I'm under attack from their friends who they hire to lie about me.’”
Nicholas added, “As you are aware, this is a serious accusation which expressly and/or impliedly means that the Government has hired ‘their friends’ to murder you. As the guardian of the public interest and a member of the Government, I feel compelled to seek further and better particulars about your outrageous and scandalous open-ended allegation.”
Nicholas noted that Section 75 of the Constitution states that where “false and baseless allegations are made with the intention of causing serious harm to the personal, professional and public life of any citizen, including members of the Cabinet, no effort shall be spared to vindicate the good name and reputation enjoyed by these persons, where such is unjustifiably vilified.”
Nicholas also noted that Section 8 of the Libel and Defamation Act, Chap. 11:16 states that “if any person maliciously publishes any defamatory libel, knowing the same to be false, he is liable on conviction to imprisonment for two years and to pay such fine as the Court directs.”
Taking issue with Rowley’s allegations against the Government and noting an absence of “cogent, compelling” evidence, Nicholas further informed Rowley, “In the circumstances, I anxiously await the evidence and justification for this slanderous and libellous statement.
I also invite you to share same with the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions. “Should I fail to hear from you within forty-eight (48) hours, I shall assume that your statements were false and baseless and proceed to call upon the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of Police to launch an immediate criminal investigation into your conduct.”
Nicholas added, “I shall also call upon the Integrity Commission to investigate your conduct for a violation of Part IV of the Integrity in Public Life Act, Chap. 22:01 which establishes the code of conduct for public officials. “I will also refer this matter to the Council for Responsible Political Behaviour to determine if your conduct was in breach of the Code of Ethical Political Conduct.
PNM public relations officer Faris Al-Rawi, Rowley’s attorney, said the letter was an issue for Rowley’s attorneys who would study the information from Nicholas.
Al-Rawi said the attorneys for Rowley would issue a reply in due course and “as may be necessary. We’re in the course of reviewing the correspondence, which at first blush is materially lacking in terms of compliance with the basic tenets of pre-action disclosure in the civil context, let alone the criminal context.”
MORE INFO
Then deputy police commissioner Mervyn Richardson had been assigned to examine the 2012 alleged threat against Rowley. Then national security minister Jack Warner had also advised that as a member of Parliament such threats ought not to deter any MP from doing his or her national duties.
In 2011 another investigation was done into an alleged threat by members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen against the lives of Rowley and Fitzgerald Hinds. Threats were allegedly made in a letter sent to Rowley and Hinds regarding their positions in the PNM. Sources said the letter also spoke of former prime minister and political leader of the PNM, Patrick Manning, returning to lead the party before returning to government.
Rowley said then he had been in public life for over two decades and “have never really made a public issue of my personal security.” He said then he had been advised of threats to his person and passed it on to the police. He said he had never “gone into the details of threats to my personal safety” and wasn’t going to go into it.