(Trinidad Guardian) The Police Service Commission (PolSC) has hired a former judge to begin an investigation into allegations that senior members of the Gary Griffith-led Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) have brought the organisation into disrepute and engaged in acts of misconduct.
The Sunday Express understands that the Bliss Seepersad-led commission has engaged the services of retired judge Stanley John to manage the investigation.
The terms of reference are still to be finalised.
However, the Sunday Express is reliably informed that it involves allegations of a licence-for-sale racket in the granting of firearm user’s licences (FULs).
The allegations reached senior members of the Government and an investigative team which included a former chief of defence staff and a former head of the Special Branch was engaged in the last quarter of 2020.
Their report was recently submitted to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Sources said the report detailed a criminal enterprise feeding off and profiting from the TTPS, with the Firearms Section, a legitimate branch of the TTPS, being used for profiteering.
The allegations of corrupt practices in the FUL process have caused serious concern at the highest levels of Government because of the risk that such firearms, which include semi-automatic, high-powered weapons, could somehow get into the wrong hands if the process is indeed contaminated.
Tip of the iceberg
The Sunday Express was informed by sources that what amounted to a racket in firearms involved senior officers, including senior contract officers in the TTPS, some of whom are civilians and who were appointed to the TTPS as SRPs (Special Reserve Police officers) and given senior positions, some in the Firearm User’s Licence Section.
The report, sources said, spoke of “bribes and kickbacks” which are funnelled to certain members of the senior rank of the TTPS.
The scheme also involves some businesspersons associated with members of this group, including certain gun dealers, trainers, range owners, firearm instructors, including certain food outlets. One dealer was said to have been given unprecedented access to files in the Firearms Section.
Companies dealing in firearms sprang up overnight, profiting from dealing in firearms. Sources said it is big business involving large sums.
Two officers who were charged last month with corruptly soliciting and obtaining money to fast-track firearms applications, one of whom is a recently recruited SRP, were just the tip of the iceberg, sources said.
Lax approach
The alleged firearm user’s licence-for-sale system has seen the illegal payment of sums varying between $30,000 and $50,000 for small arms and in excess of $100,000 for the more sophisticated semi-automatic weapons, as well as illegal payment of variations of the terms of the licence.
Some businesspersons were named in the report, along with some members of the police hierarchy, as being participants in the FUL racket.
One of the businessmen named is currently involved in a matter concerning an elected MP.
The report also said that media personnel have been drawn into the racket as the granting of FULs was used to “win goodwill” with some media workers.
Sources described as “very transactional” a particular member of the police hierarchy who sought to win favours with the media through the issuance of FULs.
The report also raised questions about the ISOS (I Support Our Service) programme, and noted there was a connection between some of the sponsors and the granting of FULs and firearm dealers’ licences.
Several businesses are donors to the 2019-launched ISOS programme, an initiative of Griffith and his wife Nicole, which involves businesses pledging support for the TTPS, such as giving police officers discounts or providing tangible items to the TTPS.
The prime concern, sources stressed, is that the administration system for the issuance of FULs is mired in corruption.
Noting there is a current attempt to shift the concern regarding FULs solely to the numbers of licences being granted, while ignoring the racket, sources said the matter of FULs for people who satisfy the requirements has never been an issue and remains the policy of the Government.
However, sources conceded that a lax, permissive approach to the granting of firearms licences can have implications for responsible gun ownership and national security in the country.
