(Trinidad Gurdian) Former director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Major Roger Best is distancing himself from claims by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley that the agency under his watch was plotting to replace the country’s political leadership.
“The mention of me leading a coup or any form of destabilization is not only preposterous but ludicrous,” he told the Sunday Guardian yesterday in his first statement following the Prime Minister’s report.
Last Wednesday in Parliament, Dr Rowley read into Hansard a statement on the conclusion of an audit conducted on the SSA by director, Brigadier Anthony Phillips-Spencer. The audit revealed that the agency under Best amassed military-grade weapons and ammunition and operated a highly trained and militarised so-called “Tactical Response Unit”, there were disturbing practices of nepotism and opportunism leading to a concentration of members of one church being hired by the SSA, instances of dishonesty and deep deception and the SSA was increasingly incapable of securing public trust.
“Such persons belonged to a cult which was arming itself while preaching a doctrine for trained military and paramilitary personnel with a religious calling to be the most suitable persons to replace the country’s political leadership. They were exerting high levels of influence on the affairs of the agency to the detriment of National Security,” Dr Rowley said.
For his part, Best has been silent since he was suspended from the agency on March 2 and subsequently fired on May 18.
His firing came after his detention and interview by police, following which three SSA employees—Pastor Ian Brown, the self-proclaimed spy, Sgt Sherwin Waldron and Susan Portell-Griffith—were charged with the “transferring” of four “prohibited firearms” from the T&T Police Service (TTPS) to the SSA.
The Sunday Guardian sent several questions to Best and while he chose to address Dr Rowley’s statement directly, he opted to answer the others through an intermediary.
“These claims are preposterous and filled with many degrees of disinformation to suit a particular narrative that was based on incorrect information from the beginning,” a source close to Best said.
“This was part of a witch hunt; anyone who conducted a proper audit would have known that weapons within the SSA were inherited from the four agencies that formed the new SSA in 2016,” the source said.
“Roger Best has spent over 35 years in protecting the state as a soldier and in various units of national security; he has placed his life on the line for this nation with distinction and he would, if called upon to do so today; he is a true patriot, ask them who truly know him.”
Dr Rowley disclosed that following the audit 28 people from the agency were fired.
On the question of the relationship between the Jerusalem Bible Church and the SSA, the source responded: “There is no link as is being suggested. There were bright, honest God-fearing young people who only wanted to serve this nation and were qualified to do so and were exposed to all the recruitment requirements.”
Neither Best nor his intermediary chose to address how the intelligence-gathering agency came to procure military-grade weapons or the whereabouts of 70,000 rounds of ammunition that went missing from the SSA.
The Sunday Guardian was told that Best was not interviewed for the audit and is looking at his legal options.
Best still is a pastor at the Jerusalem Bible church whose sermons focus on doomsday-like lectures. SSA sources described Best as a “born-again Christian.”
As the SSA scandal unfolded in the public space, Best took a back seat in addressing allegations levied against him and the agency.
On queries over the past several months by the Sunday Guardian, he would respond with sermon passages.
“Watching and praying; looking to Jesus the author and finisher of my faith; in this, I will rejoice; He sees and knows all and will always uphold the righteous in their day of persecution. Matthew 5:11-12 KJVS [11] Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. [12] Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you,” was one such response.
“A blessed day; I am patiently waiting on the Lord. Isaiah 40:28-31 KJVS [28] Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. [29] He giveth power to the faint, and them that have no might he increaseth strength. [30] Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: [31] But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint,” was another response.
Dr Rowley confirmed that several police investigations were still taking place concerning the SSA, including murders linked to the agency through the Tactical Unit established by Best.
The Sunday Guardian reported last week that three murders—Bryan Felix and Aleem Khan, whose bodies were found in a forested part of Cumuto on October 13, 2019, and CCTV camera contractor Andy Daniel—were linked to the SSA probe.
Investigators are reportedly looking at the similarity in patterns between the murders of Daniel and alleged gangster Anthon “Bombay” Boney.
On September 8, 2021, Boney was driving his vehicle north along the Uriah Butler Highway when he stopped just after the Caroni flyover. Police reports had stated that a dark-coloured SUV pulled up alongside him, and a man, dressed in black with a facemask, exited and approached his car. The person inquired if Boney was the owner of the vehicle, after which explosions were heard. The vehicle reportedly veered off the roadway and into a ditch while the getaway SUV sped off.
Daniel was shot and killed while parked on the northbound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway near the Caroni overpass around midday on November 11, 2023.
It was reported that Daniel’s assailants, who were in a black Nissan X-Trail SUV, stopped behind him on the shoulder. They got out of their car, shot him several times, and fled the scene.
Daniel was the husband of the then-deputy director of intelligence at the SSA, Joanne Daniel. It was his murder which alerted the Government that there was some exposure to the organisation.
Andy Daniel, who installed cameras for several government officials, kept the administration rights to the systems he set up.
His administration rights to the camera systems, including those of some of the country’s top officials, businessmen, and gangsters (all named), which he could remotely tap into at any given point, made it a valuable commodity for intelligence and criminal elements, for use and abuse.
Guardian Media had reported that intelligence gathered from the Research and Analytical Unit (RAU), headed by Corporal Brent Clement, which reports only to the Special Branch, was what alerted the National Security Council, headed by Dr Rowley, that the SSA had been compromised.
