Government, Opposition making good progress on writetapping bill

An informal committee of Government and Opposition MPs will meet Tuesday to continue discussions on some changes to the proposed wiretapping legislation.

They have already agreed to reduce the role of the Executive in applications to the High Court for warrants to authorise wiretaps.

Leader of government business Dr Roodal Moonilal is chairing the group. “We have met for three and a half hours and we heard the comments and recommendations of the Law Association and the Criminal Bar,” Moonilal told reporters Monday night.

He said the government has accepted those amendments that would help to make the law better. He explained that there is consensus on the need need for an apolitical wiretapping authorisation process and a tighter reporting process to Parliament. 

He said the committee agreed that wiretapping would be used only for the gravest of offences. The committee still has to work out the mechanisms to make the adjustments in the bill.

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley is supportive of the measures to deal with illegal wiretapping. 

“We have had some very intensive discussions, very fruitful discussions you might say, some adjustments to some of the clauses were made: we made considerable progress,” he told reporters, adding that both sides are close to a deal on other issues relating to the proposed legislation.

Law Association President Martin Daly attended Monday's session and expressed satisfaction with the way things went. “I think it was very useful and we left with a sense that maybe we are going to start doing serious legislation differently,” he said.

Daly and attorney Darrel Allahar attended on the invitation of MPs who agreed that the Association should play a role in the process. A representative of the Criminal Bar Association also attended the session.

Moonilal is hoping that the committee will complete its work before Friday's sitting of Parliament.

“There are issues concerning the relationship between the Minister of National Security to the operations of the bill...we are still discussing the reporting to Parliament...The problem is, as you can imagine, it is a law that requires secrecy but we need transparency. And that is the tension that we are trying to work out.” Moonilal explained.

He said there is agreement that no minister should play a role. “The Government policy which we are debating now is to place the Judiciary as a buffer between the political directorate and the rights of the individual,” he said.