However he defended the work of the Strategic Intelligence Agency (SIA), saying security agencies have every responsibility to protect the security of the state. And he even suggested that the present government is trying to protect drug dealers.
Manning was speaking at a news conference Friday after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar gave full details to Parliament about the SIA's illegal activity of eavesdropping on the telephone conversions of private, law-abiding citizens, including President Max Richards.
Manning told reporters he was "not aware at all" that the the agency was spying of the President. "What phones might have been monitored by the SIA was not known to me," he said.
The former Prime Minister admitted that he knew what was going on but claimed that he he never authorised "any agency to look into the private affairs of citizens".
"If in the course of the work of intelligence agencies they come up on the associations of individuals who are outstanding citizens, associations that are of concern to them, they have a responsibility to investigate it. It becomes then not a matter of who you are, but a matter of national security," he said.
"And in those circumstances nobody is above the scrutiny of the State when it comes to national security matters, whether you be prime minister, minister, judge, journalist or anybody else," he said.
Manning objected to the actions of the new government, stating that the administration has been "systematically dismantling the institutions of the State that are involved in the anti-drug effort and removing from office key people in the anti-drug effort.
"At first I wondered if it was coincidental but it is becoming clearer and clearer to me. It makes sense when you take into account the amount of money that the UNC-led coalition was able to expend in the election campaign.
"From what sources did this money come? And if ... and I am going to make the case in Parliament, much of it came from drug sources, then what you are seeing now is the 'payback' by the Government. The Government is taking this country down a road where the nacro-dealers will have a major hand in the conduct of state business," he said.
Manning said the real reason for the raid on the SIA was for Government to find out what information the agency had on the drug dealers.
He dodged a question about whether he knew that wiretapping was illegal. "The way the PNM has operated in government, is that we start a programme and if the programme works well, you give it a legislative complexion," he said.
He said the National Security Council took a decision just before the election to introduce wiretapping legislation.
Manning said the SIA was his idea during his first term as PM but was developed under the Panday UNC administration when Persad-Bissessar was a member of cabinet.
"They controlled the agency in its formative years and however the agency emerged it was largely the result of actions of the UNC when they were in government," he said.
Manning said the agency would have been conducting the same wiretapping under the Panday UNC administration although he never asked when he became Prime Minister in 2001. "I didn't have to ask. They were clearly doing it," he told reporters.
He further claimed that for one month the Government had been attempting to prevent him from speaking on crime matters in the Parliament.
He said it happened when he wanted to speak on the anti-gang legislation and the bail bill. Manning said it happened again Friday when Speaker Wade Mark prevented him from speaking.
On Friday Manning asked to have the Standing Orders waived so he could respond to Persad-Bissessar. However Mark said was no procedure to allow that.
Manning persisted in making his request to speak, at times standing while the Speaker was on his feet. Mark closed the matter by advising Manning to take his seat, failing which he would ask him to leave the chamber.
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