Court clears Rowley, awards $100,000

Keith Rowley is $100,000 richer today. But the former cabinet minister was more interested in clearing his name than getting the money. On Tuesday he got both when Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee awarded him more than $100,000 in damages, interest and costs. The the High Court ruled that the Integrity Commission acted in bad faith in relation to Rowley, and was guilty of the "tort of misfeasance in public office".

The judge also found unfair abuse of power on the part of the commission in leading Rowley and his wife, Sharon, to believe that the investigations in relation to Landate were ongoing and that Mrs Rowley had a continuing obligation to provide information to the commission.

In November 2004, the commission started investigating allegations against Rowley regarding the removal of building materials from the Scarborough Hospital site to the Landate project in Tobago, which is owned by Rowley’s wife, Sharon.

It was a secret probe; the commission never informed Rowley about the allegations, and that it had started an investigation. Rowley learned about it from a report in the Sunday Guardian on Dec. 17, 2006 under the deadline "Latest on Landate issue: Police probing Minister Rowley".The report said a file had been sent from the Commission to the Director of Public Prosecutions for action.

That was news to Rowley because he didn't even know the commission was looking into his affairs. The term of the commission expired on Aug. 8, 2006, the day after the commissioRowley'sowley's file to the DPP. However the commission only informed Rowley on Jan. 19, 2007 that it had sent the file to the DPP. And it never offered the minister any fair opportunity to be heard, either in person or by counsel in relation to the allegations.

Rowley promptly took action. On Jan. 19, 2007, he filed for a judicial review of the decision of the commission to publish the report about him.

On April 18, 2007 a lawyer for the Integrity Commission, Christopher Hamel-Smith, conceded that Rowley had not been given reasonable notice of the allegations under investigation, and that he had not been given an opportunity to be heard.

On July 13, 2007, Rowley amended his claim seeking to have the court declare that the commission acted in bad faith and was motivated by "ulterior motives".

The commission wrote to Rowley on Feb. 1, 2008 saying, "The commission is now of the view that there is no longer any basis for suspecting that you may have conducted yourself in a manner that was in breach of your duties under the (Integrity in Public Life) Act, and I have been directed to advise the Director of Public Prosecutions of this decision." The letter was signed by Martin Farrell, registrar of the commission.

Commenting on the ruling Rowley said he was pleased, and he expressed full confidence in the judiciary. He told reporters, "I had to fight for the truth to prevail."

He called on members of the Integrity Commission to resign.

He made it clear that his fight was not about money but about his character and good name. "I have been able to demonstrate that there are people in this country who are prepared to damage the reputation of citizens of this country," he said in an obvious reference to his former boss, Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

The President of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago said the Integrity Commission has lost its credibility and should immediately resign. Commenting on the ruling, Martin Daly the commission acted in bad faith in the matter of former cabinet minister Keith Rowley.

Daly called the judgment "one of the most destabilising things that could have happened, given the fact that they are called by name 'Integrity'...Bad faith is a polar opposite of integrity," Daly told the Trinidad Express, adding: "Their resignation letters should be delivered to the President no later than midday (Wednesday)."

The Former Head of the Public Service reacted the same way. Reginald Dumas said he cannot see how a body calling itself an Integrity Commission could stay in office after a judgment which found that it was "guilty of bad faith and misfeasance".

Dumas told the Express there was a vast difference between making a mistake in carrying out one's function and acting with bad faith. "I call on the Commission to resign," he said adding that the President should urge them to quit since he cannot fire them.

"They must leave with the utmost dispatch, preferably today (Wednesday). In fact, they should have already left," he said.