Gibbs must explain raid at Newsday offices: AG Ramlogan

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said Thursday he was shocked to learn about the police raid at the Newsday’s offices in Port-of-Spain, adding that in his view police did not handled the matter properly.

He told media the government had nothing to do with it. “I am very concerned about it as Attorney General. No one in the Government authorised it. No one in the Government had any prior knowledge. We were certainly not consulted about it,” he said.

Ramlogan said the matter “required a little more sensitivity on the part of the Police Service because you have to treat the press with a certain measure of decorum and dignity.”

Speaking in an interview on national television (CNC3) Ramlogan said Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs must explain the action of his officers.

“Mr Gibbs must be called upon to account for the actions of the Police Service in this regard and to answer to the population as to why the Police Service found it necessary to conduct investigations into matters in such a manner,” the AG declared.

He added the commissioner must explain how the police was “prioritising their timing of investigations, given the fact that they have so many matters that have been limping along like a three-foot dog without meaningful progress being made.”

He said the offence pertains to the leakage of confidential information about the declarations that may be filed with the Integrity Commission about persons in public life. “It doesn’t concern administrative matters like these,” Ramlogan said, adding that it is a sad occurrence that "should have been handled better by the Police Service."