Mystery over who compiled TSTT records

THE SIMPLE task of verifying TSTT records caused another delay in the completion of the conspiracy to murder preliminary inquiry against Jamaat Al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr. Despite attempts by the court and the defence to ascertain who compiled certain records, the inquiry was put off again as no one knows for sure who did it. Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court, adjourned the inquiry to Tuesday with the hope that someone at TSTT would come forward and tell the court who compiled the record which the defence wants as part of its case.

Bakr, 63, is charged with conspiring with others to murder expelled Jamaat members Salim Rasheed and Zaki Aubidah on June 4, 2003 at Citrine Drive, Diamond Vale, Diego Martin. In April, after the Chief Magistrate ruled that a prima facie case had been made out against Bakr, defence attorney Pamela Elder SC sought the court’s assistance in having someone from TSTT be called as a witness to verify certain records. The inquiry was called on two occasions in May but there was no witness from TSTT. When the inquiry resumed yesterday, Elder told the court that a summons was sent to an official at TSTT. She said the defence had gotten some assistance from someone in the Fraud and Detection Department.

“In light of my instructions, it is quite clear that the Fraud and Detection Department operates within a high level of secrecy and confidentiality and in order to preserve its effectiveness, a certain measure of anonymity is needed,” defence counsel added. Elder asked that the names of the proposed witnesses from that department be withheld from publication in the media. Mc Nicolls sought assistance from Carla Brown-Antoine, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Brown-Antoine said she was aware of the level of anonymity under which the department operates. She said information is normally given on a need-to-know basis. She had no problem with the names being withheld “for the time being.”