Kamla death threat as AG plans to put Bakr's properties on sale

There are reports of a death threat against Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar allegedly coming from persons with connections to Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr.

According to a police report an unidentified man dressed in blue jeans and a hoodie approached lawyer Liana Ramsahai outside the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain and made the threat.

Ramsahi said the man told her to tell persad-Bissessar not to sell "we property". She told police the man threatened to harm the Prime Minister and to "finish what we started in 1990".

That's a clear reference to the failed Muslimeen led coup in Trinidad and Tobago in July 1990. Police are on high alert based on the report. However, Bakr reportedly told police he doesn't know anything about the matter.

Last year, High Court Justice Rajendra Narine made an award giving the state the authority to sell properties owned by Bakr to recover a debt of over $32 million owed by Bakr for the destruction caused during the 1990 uprising.

Bakr had argued at the Privy Council that he had a deal with former Prime Minister Patrick Manning in which he agreed to help Manning and the PNM win the 2002 general election in return for favours.

The privy Council rejected an affidavit from Bakr making the claims about a deal with Manning. However it said if such a document existed it would be a breach of the Trinidad and Tobago anti-corruption laws.

That document is the subject of a police investigation.

Read the story: Judge orders probe of PM Manning; orders auction of Abu Bakr's properties
Related story: IC begins probe of Bakr's alleged deal with Manning

Manning has always denied making any deal with the Muslimeen leader however while he was in office he did not act on the court order to sell any of Bakr's properties.

The People's Partnership government came into office saying it would act against Bakr. And at a political meeting in Tunapuna Wednesday night Attorney General Anand Ramlogan announced that the Bakr properties are going to be put on sale.

Ramlogan said there will be ads in all the newspapers on Tuesday July 27 offering the properties for sale. He said the government of Trinidad and Tobago is acting according to the law and will not yield to any threats.

Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal will oversee the legal process regarding the auctioning of the properties. Ten of the properties belong to Bakr and a senior Jamaat member owns one of them.

Ramlogan said earlier this month he expects "this process to be completed by the end of the month through a public auction."

July 27 is the anniversary of the attempted Muslimeen coup in which Bakr and a group of more than 100 of his supporters stormed the state-owned TV station and the Parliament and announced that they had taken control of the country.
The insurrectionists held MPs, including then Prime Minister A.N.R. Robinson hostage for four days before surrendering. Two dozen people died in the uprising, including Diego Martin Central MP, Leo Des Vignes. The coup leaders were later freed on a legal technicality.

Read about the 1990 coup
Read TIME magazine's report on the attempted coup

During the campaign for the May 24 general election that brought the People's Partnership government into office, Congress of the People (COP) leader Winston Dookeran promised an full investigation into the attempted coup.

Dookeran was acting Prime Minister during the four-day siege. Despite public calls for an investigation former Prime Ministers Manning and Basdeo Panday refused to set up an investigation.