FBI, Scotland Yard won’t reduce crime in TT

Speaking with Sunday Newsday yesterday, Maharaj said he was very disappointed when he listened to the Prime Minister’s Budget presentation in the House of Representatives last Wednesday. According to Maharaj, Manning produced no plan to show that the Government can deliver immediate results to the population where controlling crime was concerned. The former AG said he has developed a short-term plan to reduce crime in TT within 90 days. Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley dismissed Maharaj’s statements, saying the former AG did not understand the issues involved and the solutions to reduce crime in TT were "not magic bullets."

On the Prime Minister’s announcement that Scotland Yard and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would establish units in TT, work with the Special Anti-Crime Unit to provide technology and training to local law enforcement agencies and the FBI would help to restructure the Police Service, Maharaj said the efforts of the FBI and Scotland Yard in TT would be futile if the Government has already identified who the major perpetrators of crime in the country are.

Recalling that National Security Minister Martin Joseph spoke about the existence of 66 criminal gangs, each comprising 500 hardcore members, Maharaj said it was incumbent upon the Government to tell the population what is being done to bring these individuals to justice. He claimed the efforts of the FBI and Scotland Yard would be further hampered by the absence of proper forensic facilities and Government is yet to implement the DNA Act which was developed while he was AG.

Maharaj further alleged that at no time did the Prime Minister articulate how the estimated $2.9 billion allocated in the $34 billion Budget for national security would be spent. At Friday’s post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Conrad Enill said Government ministers would account for the performance of their respective ministries in the Budget debate which begins tomorrow at 10 am in the Lower House with Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday’s response to the Budget.

Contacted yesterday, Panday said he was "immersed" in his Budget presentation. Panday is expected to utilise the full three hours allotted to him and his contribution is certain to focus heavily on Government’s performance to address crime in TT and Government’s financial expenditure patterns.

Maharaj also claimed that Government has not said how it intends to improve the criminal justice system to prosecute and convict criminals once they have been detected and caught by the authorities. Declaring that Manning should have announced Joseph’s resignation or a change in the National Security Ministry in his Budget presentation, Maharaj said the Government should resign and seek a new mandate from the people because it has failed to deal with crime in TT.