Volney: Difference between ‘intelligence’ and ‘evidence’

Justice Minister Herbert Volney yesterday said the Partnership Government was on sound constitutional footing to declare a state of emergency (SoE). It also had the right to arrest certain persons regarding a plot to kill the Prime Minister and other government ministers.

Volney yesterday called for an investigation into particular senior police officers who reportedly denied that the assassination plot was real.

Volney who is now acting Minister of National Security, said the Council was yet to see the report.

Yesterday he hinted that “the acting Prime Minister (Winston Dookeran) has directed the Commissioner of Police, to bring that particular senior police officer to justice.”

On Monday, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said, he had written to President Maxwell Richards, requesting His Excellency’s assessment of the alleged Evaluation Report, which stated there was no real evidence to support the contention of the assassination plot.

Volney spoke during yesterday’s formal opening of the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority (LAAA’s) office in San Fernando.

Referring to the July 27, 1990 coup, Volney said, if the then government had acted on intelligence, it would have been avoided. “Lives and property would have been saved,” Volney added.

Volney reiterated that the undisputable fact is, based on intelligence, the NSC advised the Cabinet that decisive action needed to be taken because there was a threat to national security. “And the Prime Minister (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) acted decisively,” Volney added.

Volney later cut a ribbon to open spanking new offices on No 6 Harris Street, San Fernando, where the LAAA will serve the public in south Trinidad.