PM reveals probe into SSA still unfolding

A fi­nal re­port on the probe in­to the Strate­gic Ser­vices Agency (SSA) will be avail­able some­time in the not-too-dis­tant fu­ture, says Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley.

The Prime Min­is­ter in­di­cat­ed this in Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day af­ter be­ing asked by Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal when the fi­nal re­port of an au­dit of per­son­nel, equip­ment, and process­es at the SSA had been com­plet­ed. Mooni­lal asked if it was sub­mit­ted to Gov­ern­ment by the act­ing head of the SSA Brigadier Gen­er­al An­tho­ny Phillips-Spencer.

In March, the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil (NSC) rec­om­mend­ed to Cab­i­net that the SSA’s head be re­placed im­me­di­ate­ly. He was sent on leave, and his em­ploy­ment was lat­er ter­mi­nat­ed.

An au­dit be­gan in­to the op­er­a­tions of the SSA.

Yes­ter­day, Row­ley said while the probe in­to the agency was not yet com­plete, Gov­ern­ment has re­ceived in­ter­im re­ports on as­pects of that op­er­a­tion.

“And one of the doc­u­ments Gov­ern­ment would have re­ceived—aris­ing from the work that’s be­ing done and the var­i­ous re­ports—is a new or­gan­i­sa­tion­al chart, which is cur­rent­ly be­fore the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil for con­sid­er­a­tion,” Row­ley added.

“The work con­tin­ues, and we ex­pect that—to put it as how the MP (Mooni­lal) has put it—a fi­nal re­port will be avail­able some­time in the not too dis­tant fu­ture,” he added.

Pressed by Mooni­lal as to why the fi­nal re­port was still in­com­plete, Row­ley said, “You can’t have a fi­nal re­port while the mat­ter you’re in­ves­ti­gat­ing is in fact con­tin­u­ing to un­fold. And that’s where we are.

“We will not try to have a fi­nal re­port by a par­tic­u­lar date if in fact, we do not have the com­plete pic­ture of the sit­u­a­tion. And we are in fact con­tin­u­ing to in­ves­ti­gate the mat­ter.”

AG get­ting ad­vice
on 1990 coup re­port

Mean­while, Row­ley al­so said At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Regi­nald Ar­mour was seek­ing le­gal ad­vice on the re­port of the Com­mis­sion of En­quiry in­to the at­tempt­ed 1990 coup. Re­spond­ing to a ques­tion from Na­pari­ma MP Rod­ney Charles, who want­ed to know the sta­tus af­ter Par­lia­ment was ad­vised on April 26 this year that the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al was prepar­ing gov­ern­ment’s re­sponse.

The Prime Min­is­ter said the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al was seek­ing le­gal ad­vice on the re­port.

“He will in the nor­mal scheme of things, ad­vise the Cab­i­net once this ex­er­cise has been com­plet­ed,” Row­ley added.