Denyse Renne and Trinidad Express article – gives credence to accusation made by Opposition Leader.
It is more than 7 months since my contract ended as Police Commissioner, yet Denyse Renne and the Trinidad Express, continue to adhere to their assignment as directed, to publish lies to the public, with the hope that it can affect me.
It continues to do just the opposite. I ask all to refer to page 6 of Sunday’s Express dated 9 April, with the heading “Spy software bought and used by TTPS”. The story inside however, shows and states that the heading was an outright lie, yet they still put the heading, nevertheless, to mislead the country.
In that article, they speak about the acquisition of a spy system called Pegasus, which is made by an Israeli company. They also tried to insinuate that this system was purchased by me when I was Commissioner of Police. The same article also says that this system was used by the SSA.
To be clear, the Commissioner of Police does not have any operational or legitimate authority over the SSA. Also, when contacted by the Express, I was specifically asked if anyone under my tenure was sent to Israel to look at or procure Pegasus. To this question I answered a resounding NO, yet the Express shamelessly put a heading to lie to the country.
In the following page, the Express also prints that a specific gang leader was intercepted and that a member of the Police executive called the gang leader and asked him to not retaliate to a matter close to him.
Well, let me pattern our Prime Minister and say ‘it was me’. I was the member of the police executive that called Sandman and spoke to him. I was doing my job which last time I checked was to curtail crime, which can also involve warning someone not to break the law, or take the law into his own hands, in an effort to avoid mass bloodshed.
I made the call, and told the gentleman that the police were handling the matter and that he should desist from retaliation as this could lead to several innocent people being killed.
Interestingly, the Express’ Denyse Renne knows that this call occurred and the length of the call, and of course this makes me wonder what other intercepted calls does she and the Express have, not just on politicians, but any law-abiding citizen.
Even more curious, is how did she get it, since once the SSA transcribes the call, it is sent to the TTPS Intelligence Unit and only that unit in the TTPS has access to these intercepts.
This suggests that the only plausible reason the Express can have this information is that Police officers in this specialized unit have been completely compromised and are either directly leaking information to the media, or they are giving this information to politicians who are then giving this to the media.
Quite telling perhaps, is that this unit within the TTPS is the same one I have spoken about in the recent past where a present senior Government Minister, was pressuring me as Commissioner, to place in charge, a police constable who was a close associate of his.
So whether the leak is directly to the media or to politicians and then the media, either scenario completely compromises National Security, and even more concerning, is that this leak appearing in the newspaper seems to give credence to some of the Opposition Leader’s accusations, so thanks to Denyse Renne and the Express, it seems that information on interceptions have indeed been leaked and compromised and that politicians have been directly involved in operational aspects of this arm of National Security.
It is also important to note the last part of that article, when Denyse Renne spoke about an Opposition MP having his phone intercepted whilst in conversation with a gang member. Again, for the media to get this, it means that the Intelligence Unit in TTPS forwarded this to her or they gave it to politicians who would then forward to their links in the Express in their aim to discredit political opponents, but this pattern of these deliberate leaks is not a Young one, as it has been going on for over a year.
Again, I can state that I was the Senior Officer who acquired the information of this alleged meeting and I directed and launched the sting operation to ascertain what was this meeting about, so obviously I was not the senior officer who it is claimed ” tipped off” any Opposition MP about this operation, if I was the one who coordinated it in the first place.
One would think that if there was such interception of a senior officer tipping off a possible suspect hence affecting my sting operation that I coordinated, then this evidence should be used to have this senior officer arrested, so it is hoped that the evidence acquired by Denyse Renne and the Express be used to have this done accordingly.
Failure to do so, may lead to the obvious conclusion that the article is a lie, or that they are refusing to provide such evidence to the authorities hence allowing someone who broke the law, to remain free.
The only person who knew about this sting operation, outside the TTPS, was a very senior Government Minister who I briefed, so he may very well be a person of interest who may have compromised this sting operation.
The matter that must not be overlooked, is yet again, if Denyse Rene and the Express was given this recording by the SIU of the TTPS, or members of this Intelligence Unit gave it to politicians to be then forwarded to the media, it shows that this Unit cannot be trusted and are using their position to adhere to directives of politicians.
Today it was an Opposition MP. Tomorrow it could be you, as Enemies of the State in the eyes of this Government are no longer major criminals or terrorists, but also anyone politically opposed to the Government.
By Gary Griffith