(Trinidad Guardian) Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday no plot was established to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and three members of her Cabinet. He said so at a news briefing at the Opposition caucus room at the Waterfront Complex, Wrightson Road, Port-of- Spain. He said the “so-called plot” was used to justify the state of emergency. “The Prime Minister has, in a very reckless manner, misled this country on November 24,” Rowley stressed. He quoted a document, called “The evaluation of the plot by the country’s security services”. It was dated November 23.
It read:
(1). The general assessment of this information (alleged plot) is that it seems to be an amalgamation of several pieces of information, using historic information on individuals of known ill-repute to validate the claim of a future act and embellished by the author’s liberal use of opinions rather than facts;
(2). the chronological sequence of events is inconsistent;
(3). it is quite possible that he (the source who leaked the plot) is speculating as to what he is seeing in an attempt to make sense of it;
(4). due to a lack of understanding by the source, there seems to be an attempt to use the term (certain term used which suggests that these persons are extremists); and
(5). there is no information identifying the leaders of the two groups (supposed to be the extremists groups), or whether the persons involved are known to each other. Attempts to identify a common link, possible through the Imams of the community to which they belonged, proved futile.
Rowley then said: “The information surrounding this so-called plot has been discredited by the (police) analyst in the evaluation, as of November 23.” He said despite that information Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who is the chairman of the National Security Council, “creates the hysteria that we have been through, mobilise the forces, makes political statements, tell the country we can’t tell you anything because it is secret.” He said: “So now we know for a fact no plot was determined on November 24.”
He said the Opposition had concerns that those detained were held “under criminal conduct as to the plot to commit murder but they are held under existing powers of the state of emergency.” He said that when the emergency powers expire on Monday when the state of emergency expires “those persons (detained) will have to walk.” He said however those people were “now in serious jeopardy” because the political directorate needed evidence to keep them incarcerated or charged to keep it from serious allegations of misconduct in public office.
