-says TSTT, Digicel were ordered to help espionage unit
(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday she wants a full probe into the operations of the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA). She said this was critical because of the issues of “misuse of public funds and “misbehaviour in public office” emerging from an initial look into the operations of the unit.
She said so far-reaching was the unit’s influence, the State-owned Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) and privately owned Digicel were “commanded” to open their facilities to the (SIA) for its wiretapping operations.
“Do you remember there was a time in Trinidad when people used to say use a Digicel phone, don’t use a TSTT phone? … They were right.”
Persad-Bissessar made the comment during a luncheon hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Ex-services League at the league’s headquarters at Fifth Street, Barataria.
The Prime Minister explained that “the facilities there (at TSTT) were being utilised, but TSTT was commanded so to do and I’m told that thereafter, that Digicel also was commanded … to allow their facilities to be used” by the SIA.
Persad-Bissessar gave a first look into the SIA’s illegal wiretapping operations in Parliament on Friday, when she gave a listing of persons who were spied on by the unit. Among them were President George Maxwell Richards, herself, current Government Ministers, Oppositon Leader Dr Keith Rowley, trade unionists and media personnel. Asked if the Government would publicly reveal the other names on the list, the PM said, “I’m not sure that’s the route we will take. It is a database, the investigation is ongoing and it will take some time to ID persons from that database.”
Persad-Bissessar said, however, that they will quietly inform the other persons, as they did not want to “further invade the privacy by callings the names (of others on the list)”. She said she mentioned certain names in Parliament as they were already in the public domain.
She assured, however, that a report on the operations of the SIA will be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions. She said the probe would focus as well on the use of State funds for illegal activities and misconduct in public office.
The PM also said she could not say who will be questioned regarding the SIA’s operations, as “it’s hard evidence we are collecting at this point in time and that will then go to the DPP, who then will be in charge of the investigation in that regard”. She said charges may be forthcoming following the investigation.
Asked about former prime minister Patrick Manning’s comment he knew the SIA was illegally wire-tapping but did not know who they were targeting, Persad-Bissessar said, “I find that rather surprising because our information is that the unit reported directly to the head of the National Security Council, and you heard his comment two years ago, he all but admitted that the agencies were so engaged.”
