Category Archives: Crime in T&T

I spy, with my electronic eye…

By Raffique Shah
November 20, 2010

Raffique ShahAs I write this column, Government is before Parliament presenting the Interception of Communications bill, which it expects to pass in a marathon sitting. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she hoped to get support from the opposition PNM, which I feel certain she will.
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Manning comes out fighting

SpyingSandy Hits ‘Manic Man’
MINISTER of National Security Brigadier John Sandy yesterday tore into former prime minister Patrick Manning as a “manic man” with “a sick mind” for the wiretapping of persons in public life by a secret spy unit that reported to Manning.

Manning comes out fighting (link fixed)
…says ‘spy’ bill will undermine national security
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Setting a Proper Example

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 16, 2010

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI did not vote for the People’s National Movement (PNM) during the last national election. Like so many, I became so disenchanted with the positions and attitudes of the former Prime Minister that I could not, in good faith, support the party which I always supported and of which I am a member. I did not vote for the People’s Partnership (PP) either. Theirs was merely a throwing together of disparate elements whose only objective was to remove the PNM. They had no plans for the country, except for a provision of computers for our students and a promised old-age pension of $3,000 which they repudiated the first day they walked into office. They informed an eager population that it really was not a promise: it was a misprint.
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On Mr Manning’s Secret Service

Express Editorial
November 13, 2010 – trinidadexpress.com

SpyingAs the country watched in fascination, former prime minister Patrick Manning showed signs of having been stung into replying to his successor’s revelations about the telecommunications intercepts perpetrated for five years under his rule . Until Friday, Mr Manning, now just another MP, had been mostly silent in the House. It was unseemly of the 39-year parliamentary veteran to insist on an unentitled opportunity to reply, thereby earning the rebukes and an eventual ejection threat from the Speaker.
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They Spied on the President Too

SpyingClear and present danger
PRESIDENT George Maxwell Richards, former Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma, his wife Kalawati, Government and Opposition politicians, trade-unionists, journalists and even some of their children were subject to secret surveillance by the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA), Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar revealed yesterday as she expressed a “deep sense of personal outrage” over the SIA’s use of illegal wiretapping.
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Clico, Panday and the oligarchy

By Trevor Sudama
November 09, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Basdeo PandayIt is said that those who do not learn from the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them. It is my view that it is a government’s duty to have a holistic view of the circumstances and situation of the various elements of the society and, in the light of that assessment, pursue the national interest which may be defined as the greatest good of the greatest number.
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Profiles in Courage & Love

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 03, 2010

ViolenceOne will never know what transpired between Sarbrina Lall-Mitchell and her murderer. Sometimes love relations go awry with devastating consequences. No one has ever explained fully why feelings that seem to so wonderfully new when love first dawns turns so completely into its opposite when loves dies and the deadly serpent of jealousy entangles the human breast.
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Hold parents responsible

By Sean Douglas
October 22, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

ViolenceTHE Rape Crisis Society yesterday called on Government to pass laws to hold parents responsible for sexual offences done by their children. “Some of the perpetrators of these heinous sexual assaults are teenagers and thus are not liable for prosecution.”

The Society wrote to media houses to support the Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2010, under debate in the Senate, which makes it easier for victims of sexual abuse to testify in law-courts.
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Ish and Steve to be extradited to the US

By Nalinee Seelal and Corey Connelly
October 10 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve FergusonAfter weeks of speculation, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan yesterday signed an extradition order granting the United States Government the permission to extradite businessmen Steve Ferguson and Ishwar Galbaransingh to the United States to answer fraud charges.
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