(Trinidad Express) Former Flying Squad member Mervyn Cordner yesterday claimed he had three meetings with acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams during the setting up of the New Flying Squad Investigations Unit (NFSIU).
In addition, the retired police sergeant, who said his unit was Ministry-approved, claimed police officers worked alongside his unit in several investigations.
And since the National Security Council has referred the matter to be investigated by Williams, he has not been contacted by any police on the matter.
Cordner made the claims at a press conference at the unit’s so-called headquarters at Donrich Security Kennels Ltd on Factory Road, Piarco.
But Cordner did not provide evidence to show ministerial approval and he couldn’t explain adequately why the accountant of NFSIU, Purnell Pacheco, was now an employee of SWAT Estate Police Co Ltd.
The Express understands that Pacheco, a relative of Cordner who was linked in e-mails to the director of the National Security Operations Centre (NSOC), Garvin Heerah, has provided an affidavit to the Ministry of National Security dismissing the operation of the unit.
At the press conference, Cordner could not provide answers on what dates he had met Williams or if there was anyone else who could corroborate his story.
When it was pointed out that in an interview with the Sunday Express he had said he never met Williams, Cordner responded that he did not meet Williams at his office in an official capacity.
He said he met Williams in the corridors at the headquarters of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), where he gave him a list of 45 NFSIU officers to be precepted.
But Cordner’s story was not consistent with an interview with the Sunday Express on February 15. He had said then that he never met with Williams.
During that interview, Cordner had said Heerah had tried to arrange meetings with the Police Commissioner but they did not happen because of Williams’ busy schedule. Cordner had told the Sunday Express that no names were submitted for precept (then he had said 35 NFSIU officers), as Williams’ position for not granting licences was that some of the men in Cordner’s unit were too corrupt.
Cordner had said Williams was never available for a meeting, but the key agencies of the country’s national security apparatus were aware of the NFSIU’s resurrection.
Williams has maintained that he never met with Cordner and had dismissed the idea of a Flying Squad unit under his watch as Commissioner.
Contacted yesterday on whether such meetings took place, Williams declined to comment on the matter, which is now under investigation by the TTPS.
Cordner yesterday said it was Minister of National Security Jack Warner who approached him for a meeting to revive the NFSIU and accused him (Warner) of lying about the issue.
He said he met Warner at his Abercomby Street office at five o’clock one morning, along with some of his former Flying Squad members, including Trevor St Louis, Lance Lashley and Michael Lambert.
However, in the interview with the Sunday Express, Cordner had said it was Warner’s statement about exploring the possibility of bringing back the Flying Squad which caused him to seek out the Minister.
Francis Joseph, media adviser to Warner, had also told the Express that it was Cordner who approached him for a meeting after Warner was appointed Minister of National Security and seemed open to the idea of bringing back a ‘sanitised’ Flying Squad unit. Joseph admitted he did facilitate a meeting between Cordner and Warner in July 2012.
It was not the first time Cordner had tried to revive the unit. In 2008, Cordner and several ex-Flying Squad members held a meeting at the Police Training Academy in St James to propose using their services to fight crime.
But the idea was rejected by then National Security Minister Martin Joseph and the then PNM government which had set up its own elite unit, the SAUTT, to stem the crime wave.
Cordner could not provide adequate answers to questions posed on exactly when approval was given by the Ministry during the course of his meetings for the setting up and operationalisation of the unit.
He said based on his first meeting with Warner, approval was given and the unit was operational.
He said it was only after discussion with Heerah that he sought a location to house the unit.
Cordner had claimed his proposed idea had received Warner’s blessings, which led him to rent space at Factory Road at Piarco, recruit 75 men and spend money out of his own pocket with the expectation that he would be reimbursed.
Cordner said the unit was operational from July to December, but closed up because there were no funds forthcoming from the Ministry.
Asked to pinpoint exactly who gave the approval, Cordner could not say, but said it occurred in subsequent meetings with former minister in the National Security Ministry Collin Partap and Heerah.
He said it was out of those meetings that a template was designed and an organisational chart was drawn up. He said he submitted reports every two weeks to the Ministry on his operations.
