Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 25/Sep 21:06

Prison officer’s attorneys insist Alexander abusing emergency powers

ATTORNEYS for acting assistant superintendent of prisons Garth Guada maintain their allegation that Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander is abusing the emergency powers to unlawfully detain their client. In a swift response to the minister’s attorneys, Guada’s legal team said his detention under a preventive detention order is unjustified, disproportionate and politically motivated. Attorney Krystal Primus alleges that Guada is being “kept in a cell and tortured on the orders of the minister.” Primus responded to a pre-action response from Alexander’s attorneys on September 24. In their response, attorneys Anand Ramlogan, SC, Lester Chariah, Lemuel Murphy and Jared Jagroo, who represent Alexander, rubbished claims that the minister engaged in unauthorised meetings with incarcerated gang leaders before the 2025 general elections. They also denied claims that Guada has been denied access to legal counsel or prevented from attending a hearing of the review tribunal in his challenge of his preventive detention order. “There can be no claim of failure to bring your client before the tribunal,” Jagroo wrote, citing technical difficulties at Teteron Barracks, Chaguaramas, on September 18, which caused delays and setbacks. “The detention of your client has at all times complied fully with the safeguards prescribed by the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2025. Review procedures have been followed, and the tribunal continues to exercise independent oversight of your client's detention.” Addressing claims against the minister, Jagroo said, “Your allegations regarding the minister's visits to the prisons are both inaccurate and misleading. All visits were conducted lawfully, in his then capacity as a senior police officer, with the knowledge and sanction of the TT Police Service. “They were undertaken for the legitimate purpose of intelligence gathering and interviews with persons of interest in the fight against violent crime. At no point did your client object to or raise concerns about these visits at the material time. To now portray them as improper or evidence of bias is both opportunistic and disingenuous.” The minister's legal team also rejected the assertion that Alexander acted with an improper motive or conflict of interest. “There is no evidence of any personal animosity between the minister and your client. Allegations of bias, misconduct, or abuse of power are bald assertions, devoid of particularity, and unsupported by any contemporaneous record.” Primus was accused of making false and misleading allegations “in an attempt to score cheap political points on serious matters concerning national security and crime detection.” “The minister maintains that Mr Guada's detention is lawful, justified, and in accordance with the emergency regulations. Should your client persist with threatened proceedings, we stand ready, poised and able to respond.” Primus had also called on Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro to launch an investigation into Alexander's visit to the prison to meet high-risk inmates between January to May 2025. In response, the police service's legal unit advised, "We are instructed that this information is within the remit of the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service. "Since this information is not within our possession, there is no right of access to information from the TTPS pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, Chapter 22:02 (FOIA). "This is as a result that the FOIA only provides for a right of access to information 'in the possession' of a public authority." Primus was advised to redirect her request to the prison service. In the September 24 letter, Guada’s attorneys insist that it was the minister’s duty to ensure Guada was brought before the tribunal promptly. In the September 24 letter, Guada’s attorneys said the explanation of logistical issues and lack of computer access was “utter failure” and “not my client’s responsibility.” The letter also rejected the minister’s defence, calling one section of its response “verbose garbage.” The document also notes that a writ of habeas corpus application had already been filed due to concerns over Guada’s well-being, before being withdrawn when he was eventually brought before the tribunal. “My client is unconcerned with how you interpret what has occurred.” The letter accused the minister of failing in his duty to ensure Guada “a fair hearing in a reasonable time,” and maintained his detention was the result of a conflict of interest involving the minister. “My client maintains that his detention is a result of a conflict of interest involving the minister, that his detention is unjustified and disproportionate. The minister has abused the powers granted to him under the Emergency Powers Regulation 2025 to exact revenge upon my client for concerns raised about his meetings.” In previous correspondence, Primus alleged the meetings were unauthorised. On September 21, accompanied by a request for “the paper trail” of the minister’s visits, Primus alleged that Alexander, before his ministerial appointment, engaged in personal visits with high-risk inmates at the MPS without proper authorisation. Primus said her client believes the meetings raised questions about the integrity of the Ministry of Homeland Security and suggested they may have involved discussions of pre-election support and promises of government contracts. “My client asserts such conduct raises serious concerns … and places the minister in the position of associate of gang leaders,” Primus wrote, urging a full investigation “in the interest of public transparency and accountability.” Guada has accused the state of unlawfully detaining him under preventive detention orders signed by Alexander as minister. On September 19, Primus argued that Guada’s detention, on August 21, when police officers took him to the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, was unlawful and tainted by bias. Guada was later moved to Teteron Barracks on September 4 under a revocation order and remains housed there, the letter said. “To date, you have signed two preventive detention orders in respect of my client, accusing him of associations with gangs, allegations you know to be untrue. “I am seeking the immediate revocation of all detention orders issued against my client. It is my client's position that your decision was influenced by an improper motive and a clear conflict of interest due to a pre-existing relationship and personal animosity between you and my client, stemming from your recent visits to the Maximum Security Prison and information that was communicated to the TTPS Intelligence Unit about your affairs. “The principles of natural justice dictate that a public official must exercise their power impartially and without bias.” The opposition also called for an urgent investigation into the attorney’s claims. Since the allegations were raised, confidential police memoranda revealed that suspected gang leader and murder accused Rajaee Ali, previously detained at the Maximum Security Prison but now at the Teteron Barracks, Chaguaramas, requested a meeting with senior law enforcement officials in January. The memo, dated January 17, was seeking direct engagement with a senior police officer. ACP Richard Smith, who headed the North West and Special Operations Division, disclosed in the document that a “reliable informant” relayed Ali’s request. Smith requested authorisation to meet with Ali, with then-senior superintendent Alexander present, and called for arrangements to be made through the Commissioner of Prisons. The memo was addressed to DCP intelligence and investigations. Ali, who is awaiting trial for the 2014 murder of former special prosecutor Dana Seetahal, SC, and is before the court on gang charges, was transferred from MSP to the army base in Chaguaramas on July 18, hours after the state of emergency was declared. He was served with a preventative detention order on August 18, which tied him to alleged gang activity, violent crime, and community influence in Trinidad and Tobago. It also alleged that his ability to communicate requests from behind prison walls underscored the reach he may still hold, despite incarceration. The memorandum did not detail what the meeting would entail. In a separate letter, also dated January 17, DCP Suzette Martin wrote to then-acting prisons commissioner Carlos Corraspe with a request for Smith and Alexander to enter MSP on the same day to interview Ali. However, Guada's legal team insists that it mattered not whether the minister was "cleared," but that the fact remains,on these visits, he met Guada and there was a dispute on whether those meetings could be unsupervised. This, the lawyers contend, led to Guada's unlawful detention. The post Prison officer’s attorneys insist Alexander abusing emergency powers appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.