(Trinidad Express) Police have confirmed they are investigating the alleged failure of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi to transfer the motor vehicle registration of a car which he sold to former member of the Police Service Commission (PolSC) Roger Kawalsingh.
Furthermore, this investigation “was treated with priority by appointing a senior investigator, namely Inspector Lazarus, the Second Division Officer in charge of the stolen vehicles Unit, Criminal Investigation Department/Criminal Record Office Department,” TTPS’ Legal Officer 1, Faith Walke stated in a letter dated January 4, 2022.
The letter was sent to Freedom Law Chambers, the law firm of former attorney general Anand Ramlogan in response to a Freedom of Information application dated November 5, 2021 made on behalf of activist Ravi Balgobin Maharaj.
The letter said the DPP was playing an “active role” in this investigation.
However, the letter indicated that the TTPS could not protect documents at the Licensing Office in relation to this transaction from fraudulent alteration.
In response to a question in the FOIA about “what steps have been taken by the TTPS to ensure that there is no tampering or fraudulent alteration to the relevant records at the Licensing Office/Authority in light of the concerns expressed about licensing officers being pressured to fraudulently backdate and rectify the relevant records, the letter stated: “Kindly note that this matter falls outside the remit of the TTPS as it has no jurisdiction over the operations at the Licensing Office.”
Asked what steps had been taken by the TTPS to secure the relevant documentation, evidence and records at the Licensing Authority, the letter stated: “The investigator, after receiving his appointment letter, conducted inquiries at the Licensing Office where he interviewed the Transport Commissioner Mr Clive Clarke who provided all the relevant documents in relation to vehicle PCY 84.”
The TTPS could not give a timeframe for the completion of the investigation.
“Kindly note that the investigation is still in its early stages and there are several persons yet to be interviewed in connection with this matter… A timeframe for completion of this investigation cannot be ascertained at this time,” the letter stated.
On the number of witnesses interviewed to date and the number of statements recorded, the letter said two persons had been interviewed by the TTPS.
Correspondence received by the Express also indicated that the TTPS is seeking the assistance of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the investigation into the Attorney General.
The Opposition Leader had written to the Acting Commissioner of Police in October 2021 calling for a police probe into the matter: “I hereby request an investigation into Mr Faris Al-Rawi and Mr Roger Kawalsingh and the facts and circumstances surrounding the purported sale of motor vehicle registration number PCY 84 in 2016.”
She stated that although Al-Rawi was on public record as saying he sold the brown Porsche Cayenne SUV luxury vehicle to Kawalsingh sometime in 2016, checks at the Licensing Authority showed that the vehicle was still registered to Al-Rawi, over five years after the purported sale to Kawalsingh.
Persad-Bissessar noted that Al-Rawi produced a letter whereby he purported to authorise Aleisha Simon to effect the transfer of the said vehicle on January 26, 2016.
However, Persad-Bissessar pointed out that it is not possible for a registered owner of a vehicle to authorise another person to act on his/her behalf via a letter and that a vehicle can only be transferred without the registered owner presenting themselves at the Licensing Authority where: 1) the vehicle is company owned; 2) instances of sickness of disability; 3) if the owner is out of country.
Responding to the Opposition Leader in a letter dated December 15, 2021, Assistant Commissioner of Police Sharon Cooper confirmed there is a police investigation into this matter, and sought Persad-Bissessar’s assistance in locating the person whom the Attorney General said he authorised to do the transfer on his behalf.
“The investigator is seeking our assistance in obtaining contact information for Miss Simon to properly investigate this allegation.
“Also, the investigation is requesting, if you are privy to any other information with respect to this mentioned allegation, if this can be deduced in a statement to assist the investigator to enable him to do a thorough enquiry. This information is urgently needed to complete this investigation,” Cooper stated.
In her letter to the CoP, Persad-Bissessar described the transaction as “highly suspicious”.
She said it had come to her attention that there had been a flurry of activity at Licensing regarding this transaction “in an attempt to allegedly tamper with the relevant records… In the circumstances, I ask that you move swiftly to secure this file and the relevant records to avoid any miscarriage of justice.
“Given that this matter involves the Attorney General and a former member of the Police Service Commission, I trust that you will independently and fairly exercise your power and authority to investigate this matter in the shortest possible time,” the Opposition Leader stated.
The Attorney General has insisted that the transaction was above board and that everything had been declared to the Integrity Commission.
He said he was not responsible for the records at the Transport Authority but that all the documentation had been submitted.
“The matter of the transfer is a matter for the purchaser,” he said.
“Mr Kawalsingh paid for that car, the transaction was completed and Mr Kawalsingh took possession of the car in 2016.
“I am not aware as to what records the Transport Authority has or doesn’t have. But I can tell you that all the documentation was submitted,” he said when the issue was raised last year.