(Trinidad Express) Former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has been detained for questioning in the “witness tampering” investigation initiated by acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams in January 2015.
Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director David West had alleged that Ramlogan, in a phone call six days before he was appointed to the PCA, “asked” him to withdraw as a witness in a matter involving then-opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley.
Ramlogan has denied he made such a request.
Two Sundays ago, the Express reported that the police were trying to reach Ramlogan for questioning, in order to conclude the probe into witness-tampering allegations made against him by West.
The police team, led by deputy Commissioner of Police Harold Philips, was unsuccessful in their attempt to secure an interview with Ramlogan because he had been out of the country for several weeks.
In emailed correspondence, Ramlogan stated “I have never been contacted by the police for an interview in connection with this matter. The police are aware (from previous written correspondence) who my attorneys are. In accordance with the usual practice and procedure, they would make contact with them in the event they need to speak to me. I can confirm that no one has contacted them as well. This story is therefore a fabrication. It is fake news. There is simply no truth to it,” he told the Sunday Express. According to his Instagram account, he was in Scotland on vacation.
An interview with Ramlogan would be one of the last in the high-profile case, which has already secured interviews with former People’s Partnership government officials—former national security minister Gary Griffith, former legal affairs minister Prakash Ramadhar, former minister in the Ministry of Finance Vasant Bharath and former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal—as well as former Express investigative journalist Anika Gumbs.
Gumbs broke the story in the Sunday Express in January 2015.
She resigned from the company on August 7, 2015.
The Sunday Express understands she was interviewed earlier this year by the police, but last month, investigating officers issued a search warrant at her home in Maracas/St Joseph, and seized a cellphone and laptop.
Since then, Gumbs, through her attorney, Kiel Taklalsingh, has written to the Office of the Commissioner of Police threatening legal action over the warrant and deeming it illegal.
She also revealed the source of her story in her letter.
After the story broke, former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar revoked the appointments of Ramlogan, as well as then-National Security minister Gary Griffith, who supported West’s story.
A of 9.45a.m yesterday, Ramlogan was at the Police Administration Building, Sackville Street, Port of Spain, with his attorneys which include Senator Gerald Ramdeen, Criston J Williams, Kiel Taklalsingh, and Jagdeo Singh.
