AG: No need to touch citizen Hart, but police can find him if necessary

Attorney General John Jeremie told reporters in Port of Spain Thursday there is no need for police to question former UDeCOTT executive chairman Calder Hart right now.

And he insisted that he can find Hart whenever that becomes necessary.

Jeremie stated that acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert and the Senior Investigating Officer of the Anti-Corruption Investigating Bureau have told him that they have not made any request for Hart to return to Trinidad and Tobago.

And he reiterated that the authorities know where Hart is, adding that "details as to his contacts and his whereabouts" have been made available through Hart's attorney. He also said Hart is willing to assist the police as necessary.

Jeremie said is unlikely that persons "in this day and age" would be able hide from the law.

"The law has developed a great deal over the last 20 years and we now have extradition arrangements in place which facilitate the movement of persons from one jurisdiction to another," he noted.

The attorney general said police have not "reached a position of finality" in their investigation.

"So there can be no warrant to do anything with Mr Hart at this point in time. We can only go as quickly as the police can carry us. The Government cannot take action against a private citizen, restricting his travel," he said.

"Those are the constitutional rights enjoyed by every citizen in advance of his being charged, or a request being made by the police to have him attend an investigation," Jeremie emphasised.

He dismissed suggestions that Hart is getting special treatment.

He said Hart is in the spotlight because police are conducting a probe that includes allegations that the former UDeCOTT chairman handed a $368 million contract to a company knowing that its directors were related to his wife, Sherrine Hart.

He said police are also conducting a separate investigation into the Taruba stadium project, which was also handled by UDeCOTT.

Jeremie also told reporters that so far the authorities have not been able to verify the authenticity of documents that allegedly confirm the family connections between Hart's wife and directors of CH Development, which got the lucrative government contracts.

He said Interpol is assisting with that. "The process of obtaining information from Malaysia is somewhat cumbersome and there is a time difference which is not helpful. We had responses from Malaysia for four of the seven questions put to them," he said.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who is in Florida for a fund raising event Saturday, said in a media release Thursday that she doubts Jeremie's claim that he knows how to find Hart.