Rowley: Former PM told Marlene about charges month before arrest

An incongruous political situation led Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to reveal to the Parliament that Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar tipped off her political adversary, Marlene Mc Donald one month before her arrest.
“I didn’t know Marlene Mc Donald was going to get arrested but one month before she was arrested the Leader of the Opposition could have called her to her office and tell her she was going to be arrested,” Rowley said.
As the disclosure echoed through the Chamber of the Parliament on Monday night, gasps and wows emanated from the Government bench.
On August 7, Officers of the Fraud Squad swooped down on McDonald’s home at Valley View, Maracas, St Joseph, where they executed a search warrant and took away several items.
This was in connection with six-year-old investigation into the alleged siphoning of over $1 million from a Government Ministry to three organisations which police claimed linked to family and friends of the then public administration minister and her husband.
Four days later, Mc Donald was charged with seven criminal charges, including misbehaviour in public office, conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.
Since being charged, McDonald has been removed as Public Administration Minister and deputy political leader of the People’s National Movement (PNM).
Persad Bissessar was not in the Chamber at the time the Prime Minister was speaking and several efforts to contact her for comment up to late yesterday roved futile.
However, in response Public Relations Officer of the UNC, Anita Haynes said, “Once again Keith Rowley is grasping at straws. Without a single achievement to show the people of T&T, he is resorting once again to bringing patently false claims to the Parliament in an effort to deflect attention from his incompetence and inability to govern. Remember email-gate?” she said.