(Trinidad Express) A team of police officers disrupted the Express newsroom operations yesterday when they swooped down on Express House in Port of Spain and searched the office of the Editor-in-Chief.
The raid follows publication of an investigative story by journalist Denyse Renne in last week’s Sunday Express headlined “Cop in $2m cheque probe” which revealed that three banks had flagged $2 million in suspicious money deposited into several bank accounts belonging to acting police commissioner Irwin Hackshaw.
The banks have alerted the suspicious bank deposits to the Financial Investigative Unit (FIU) and it is being probed by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA).
The team of seven officers, led by Supt Wendell Lucas, arrived at the building at the corner of Independence Square and Charlotte Street, Port of Spain, around 3.45 p.m. yesterday.
The investigators presented Express security officers with a copy of a search warrant to secure any materials which could be used as “evidence” in the commission of an indictable offence.
This “offence” is who leaked the information that led to publication of the investigative story.
Security notified senior officials of the Express and, after brief conversations, the policemen and women were allowed to proceed to the second floor where the Express newsroom is located.
Attorneys for the company, led by Peter Carter, who instructs Sophia Chote SC, arrived on the scene and spoke with the investigators.
Supt Lucas indicated they had come to search the premises which were controlled by Express’ Editor-in-Chief Omatie Lyder for materials which are suspected to have been used in the alleged commission of an offence.
Lyder was not at work and her office was locked.
Supt Lucas showed Carter the warrant, and the attorney pointed out that the warrant was vague and unlawful.
After a conversation between the two parties, Lucas left with a few members of his team to secure a new warrant, which would allow the officers to search the office of the Editor-in-Chief.
This took about an hour to secure from the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court and by 5 p.m. the superintendent was back in the building.
After the new warrant was reviewed. Lyder’s office was opened to investigators by members of staff.
There was an incident as Express photographer Ishmael Salandy and TV6 cameraman Brandon Benoit attempted to enter the office as well to record the search.
However, Lucas and his team quickly ordered the two staff members out of the office, indicating that their presence would be a hindrance.
However, the Express’ legal team led by Carter stayed in the office at the time, and oversaw the search as it was being conducted by the policemen and women.
The officers conducted their search behind closed doors for about 90 minutes.
They eventually left with four flash drives from the office.
According to the warrant presented to the Express by the police team, there are “reasonable grounds for believing that computers, tablets, external storage devices, cellular phones including their SIM cards, SD Cards, images, calendars, phone books, contacts, SMS messages, e-mails, pictures, video recordings, audio recordings, call logs, installed application data, GPS information, Wi-Fi information, Internet history and usage, user files, system files, and any other data which are not recorded or stored on the hard drive, or storage medium contained within the aforementioned electronic digital devices, and magazines, digital recording discs, documents and articles, which will afford evidence as to the commission of an indictable offence, namely ‘Tipping-off’.”
Lyder: It’s unsettling
Commenting on the search yesterday, Lyder said the police can search all they want and where they want but neither she nor Renne is going to reveal or expose any source.
“Our sources are our lifeblood and we will protect them with all our journalistic integrity,” she added.
She also said she found it unsettling that the raid was carried out under the watch of acting Police Commissioner Hackshaw, who was the subject of the investigative report.
And in a statement last night, the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) said it was alarmed at the development.
“Journalists in receipt of information about wrongdoing cannot be intimidated by the police to reveal their sources. Again, this demonstrates the urgency of adequate whistleblower legislation.
“We call on the Police Service Commission to insist on restraint by the TTPS whose members are named in the Express investigation,” MATT said.
Griffith unaware
Commissioner of Police (CoP) Gary Griffith told the Express yesterday that he was unaware of the operation as he was currently out of the country.
“It is difficult for me to make any statements as the CoP, as I am not in the country currently and have not been fully apprised. I understand given recent discourses in the public domain, that there can be some optics on this particular operation but until I am further informed I cannot make any official comments. What I can say, to you and to the public, is that I give the assurance that once I sit in the chair, any decision made by myself will be done with total transparency, and the powers of the TTPS will not be abused. But I am not in the chair at this time, and I cannot say what information came to investigators which would have led to this, nor what they were searching for. While I understand the current situation, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further,” Griffith said.
Young awaits information
In a press release last night, Minister of National Security Stuart Young indicated that he, too, had not been briefed on the search.
However, he said he would be awaiting an update on the matter.
“I believe in the protection of the freedom of press as well as the principle of media responsibility and would not condone a breach of either of these two principles. I await the information surrounding this development,” Young said.
