Leader of the Alliance for Change and former Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan expressed shock and said he is appalled by the way investigators are treating persons it has held for questioning in the electoral fraud probe.
During an AFC virtual press conference this midday, Mr. Ramjattan said while it is important for the investigation to continue, the Police investigators need to do a professional job.
“The manner in which this it is going on is highly unprofessional and they are not even granting bail to some of the persons for long amounts of time. What do they want? They want to crack them up in there for purposes of getting confession statements? Those are not going to be reliable or admissible evidence in a Court of law”, Ramjattan said.
He noted that the Police Force could have done its questioning in a professional way rather than to take the GECOM workers down to CID and have them there in custody for several days.
“Investigations in all manner of matters could be done but please, I urge, and at every Officer Conference for the past four or five years, I have been pleading with them, do not bully suspects. Do you jobs professionally and in according with rules”, Ramjattan stated.
The former Public Security Minister said he would understand suspects in a terrorism case or a murder case being treated differently, but not workers of the Elections Commission who are being questioned as part of a wide-ranging probe.
He said he is also concerned that a number of those persons in custody have complained about not being able to speak with their Attorneys. Ramjattan said the Police Force must be more professional and ethical in the way it is conducting the probe.
The probe into allegations of electoral fraud was triggered by a private charge filed by PPP Member Charles Ramson Jr. That private charge has since been taken over by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which pressed the Police to conduct a comprehensive investigation before the matter could be returned to the Court.
As part of its probe, the investigators arrested the Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo and a number of other GECOM staffers. Some of them were arrested at their place of work and complained that they were not allowed to make contact with their families or Attorneys for several hours.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login