PM questions Integrity Commission's role in matter

PORT OF SPAIN

■ Anna Ramdass

anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com

PRIME MINISTER Dr Keith Rowley says the country needs to have a serious conversation about the Integrity Commission which cleared Government Minister Marlene Mc-Donald of wrongdoing not once, but twice.

Rowley said this was what led him to make the decision to rehire McDonald after he had fired her twice.

The minister is now confronted with a 'jeopardy', the Prime Minister said, repeating yesterday that he will take action based on the facts when the police complete their investigation.

Rowley admitted that although there was a police probe into allegations against McDonald, he made a judgement call to reinstate her in the Cabinet because of the lengthy time the police take to complete investigations.

Rowley spoke yesterday by phone on the McDonald arrest during an i95FM radio programme hosted by Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) leader David Abdulah and radio host Natalee Legore.

McDonald has been in police custody since Thursday morning after she and her husband Michael Carew were arrested at their Valley View, Maracas, St Joseph, home and taken to the St Joseph Police Station.

New allegations over housing

Rowley, in response to questions, said the allegations against McDonald were 11 years old and began in 2008 under the former Patrick Manning government.

He recalled that, on the first occasion, prior to the 2015 general election, the Integrity Commission investigated the allegations against McDonald and cleared her.

Rowley said after the general election, people came forward with new allegations against her and he fired her as Housing Minister to ensure there was an investigation.

'Don't forget part of the package of allegations then was about misconduct on her part involving the Ministry of Housing. There were a number of allegations about who get house and who didn't get house... and so I removed her from the ministry.

'She was fired from the Cabinet so as to facilitate a proper investigation...that took place. The conclusion to that was that the Integrity Commission for the second time said that they found nothing to go forward with respect to her conduct,' he said.

Rowley said, at the end of it, the Integrity Commission for a second time found that McDonald had nothing to answer.

The Integrity Commission is a body under the Constitution that has the responsibility for examining the conduct of persons in public life and if they found nothing to warrant action then 'it means that the allegation had no substance'.

Abdulah asked Rowley if the Integrity Commission finding no wrongdoing against McDonald on two occasions suggested that the commission was 'weak', did not have the capacity to investigate and should have passed the file to the police.

He asked the Prime Minister if he took the decision to reinstate McDonald too soon as there was a parallel police probe going on. Rowley responded: 'There was a time in this country when police investigations were clearly open-ended and had absolutely no end in sight. This particular investigation is now ten years old, ten going on 11 years, so if two Integrity Commission investigations on the matter found that the person had no questions to answer, and in a situation where plantlike substances take ten years, Jack Warner and the cash to CONCACAF is forever and ever, what am I supposed to do to a person in my Cabinet where the police say 'okay we investigate, it might take 25 years'. 'The life of the Government is five years and I had two situations saying we've looked at the matter, the Integrity Commission, we found that these are allegations without substance. I thought it was reasonable then to proceed.

'Secondly, when you say the Integrity Commission doesn't have the authority, the exact investigation that is taking place now using the police could have been done before using the police at the behest of the Integrity Commission because the Integrity Commission has the authority to call in the police and use police officers to do investigations. The fact that they were not done is for another day and a longer debate.'

'Jeopardy of apparent misconduct'

He said on the other end of the pendulum, there was a case when he had to take the commission to court and the judge ruled that the commission had no integrity in a matter related to him.

'So this country has a serious conversation to have about an Integrity Commission,' he said.

Rowley noted that the police are now saying that it has new information and witnesses and he awaits the outcome of the investigation into McDonald.

'If in the end Ms McDonald faces a jeopardy of apparent misconduct in her ministry...I as Prime Minister will have the duty to preserve the public order with respect to the people I put in the Cabinet and she will either resign or I will remove her from the Cabinet,' he said.