UNC monitored deportees

OPPOSITION LEADER Bsdeo Panday declared that the former UNC Government was always vigilant on the issue of American criminal deportees returning to Trinidad and Tobago.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday, the former prime minister scoffed at assertions from Trade Minister Ken Valley that the UNC had no proper mechanisms to monitor deportees or ensure that they did not engage in criminal activities once they arrived in TT. “That is totally wrong. Mr Valley does not know what he’s talking about, as usual,” Panday said. Panday recalled that as prime minister, he signed a Memoran-dum of Understanding (MOU) with former United States Attor-ney General Janet Reno on June 12, 2000. He explained that the MOU obligated the American Government to properly inform local authorities about returning criminal deportees. Panday added that to the best of his knowledge, that system worked very well.

The UNC leader was unable to say whether there may have been any lapses in this arrangement or if it was former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj’s responsibility to ensure that the system worked. Asked about the exact mechanics as to how the deportees were monitored, Panday said he believed that responsibility lay within the ambit of the Ministry of National Security but stressed that “politicians do not interfere in the running of ministries.” US Ambassador to TT, Dr Roy Austin, said the statistical evidence currently available to him does not suggest that deportees contribute significantly to levels of crime in the country, particularly kidnapping. However, Austin did not totally dismiss Valley’s view. Speaking with reporters last week at the Servol Regional Training Centre in Port-of-Spain, the ambassador said: “The data that I have shows only one deportee mentioned as being involved in kidnapping. Now that does not mean in the future there might not be more. Maybe it’s some of those they haven’t caught yet will end up having been involved in kidnapping.” In an earlier statement, Austin confirmed the existence of the June 2000 MOU referred to by Panday.

Speaking last month in Parliament, former Legal Affairs (now Planning and Develop-ment) Minister Camille Robin-son-Regis suggested that fingerprints form part of the new identification cards and said this could be used to monitor criminal deportees in TT.