Trinidad Express – Rajaee Ali, coordinator of the LifeSport programme in Carapo, is the main suspect in the murder of Dana Seetahal SC, Diego Martin North/East MP Colm Imbert said on Friday.
He was speaking in the House of Representatives on a motion asking the House to censure Sport Minister Anil Roberts for facilitating the funding of criminals and criminal enterprise through the LifeSport Programme. He also called on Government to fire Ali from the programme.
Imbert said National Security Minister Gary Griffith was aware of this. “The problem with the Minister of National Security is that he cannot keep his mouth shut. He knows what is going on, you know. He knows that this fella, Rajaee Ali, is the prime suspect in Dana Seetahal’s murder,” Imbert stated.
Imbert noted that in an Express interview Griffith described Ali as a “don” and “the godfather”, who has been named in most of the murders in Arouca, Maloney, D’Abadie and O’Meara.
“Let me deal with Mr Rajaee Ali once and for all. Because I saw this gentleman grinning on the TV…In my public life I have met many members of the criminal element who have come into my constituency office, attempting to intimidate me. So I know the type very well,” he said.
“This individual was on trial for murder,” he said. Quoting newspaper reports, Imbert said in 2004 an 18-year-old Ali was charged with the murder of Huggins. He said Ali and friends escaped from Golden Grove by allegedly bribing prison guards with $1,000 to give them hacksaw blades which they used to escape. Ali was recaptured, Imbert said.
Imbert said in many murder cases what “inevitably’ happens is that a witness recants, or can’t be found, or is murdered. “So this is how Mr Rajaee Ali was not convicted of murder,” Imbert stated. “Some time after July 2011, Mr Rajaee Ali’s murder-accused case fell apart because either witnesses recanted or got killed…And this gentlemen is hired as a coordinator of the Carapo region in the LifeSport programme ,” he said.
“You serious?” Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner asked.
“The same man! The same man who was charged for murder, who escaped from prison, bribing a prison guard, the same man that police described in 2007 as armed and dangerous. This same man is hired to run the Carapo arm of the Life Sport programme. And that is the man the Minister of National Security was talking about when he said that LifeSport was financing criminals,” Imbert added.
“Who in this House would have the audacity to tell me other than the Minister of Sport, that Rajaee Ali is not a criminal. Who boldfaced enough? The Prime Minister isn’t. But Rajaee Ali is signing contracts in the Ministry of Sport, going in and out of the Ministry of Sport as if he own the place, collecting money under LifeSport for one year…
“I hope the Minister of National Security has fired this individual and removed him from the programme,” Imbert said.