Rowley said he has never called for the government or the prime minister to demit office on the basis of the emails, saying “all I have called for is an investigation and all hell break loose in Trinidad and Tobago. Photo: Caribbean360

Rowley, addressing a public meeting of the ain opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) in the capital on Tuesday night, said the country has gone into a “tailspin” and that the government is in disarray.

“Their mouthpieces are biting their tongue and there is nothing productive happening in Trinidad and Tobago because the government has abandoned its responsibility and is 100 per cent focussing on self defence,” he told supporters.

On Monday night, Prime Minister Persad Bissessar told supporters of her ruling United National Congress (UNC) - the biggest partner in the three-party coalition government –that Rowley’s “secret” meeting with the chairman of the Integrity Commission, Ken Gordon, ahead of his disclosure of the emails in Parliament last month “strikes at the very heart of our system of governance and the independence of our institutions in this country”.

“I am of the view that the Opposition Leader acted improperly and in breach of established conventions. As I leave here tonight, I ask whether Dr Rowley should not be charged for misconduct in public office,” she added.

Gordon has released an aide memoire regarding the May 15th meeting he had with Rowley at his private residence, but Prime Minister Persad Bissessar told party supporters ”it was a big secret, but you know they say the only way to keep a secret is not to have one”.

Gordon was quoted in the local media on Wednesday as saying that he is likely to make a “full” statement on the issue.

Last month, Rowley presented 31 emails to Parliament during a debate on a motion of no confidence against the government last month.

The emails purport to show that members of the Trinidad and Tobago government, including Prime Minister Persad Bissessar, were engaged in efforts to undermine the judiciary, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the media.

The government has denied the allegation and on Monday, Senior Counsel, Israel Khan, the attorney for Prime Minister Persad Bissessar made available to reporters a United States-based forensic expert, John Berryhill, who said that the documents were a fake.

Rowley told supporters that he has never told the parliament nor the country that the emails had been prepared by him, but had been put together by “somebody who had access to where those emails were...it was a compilation of these conversations."

"No email was sent to me. I received no email transmitted from one machine to my machine I received two pages prepared by somebody."

"Every piece of conversation there points to a situation where the government of Trinidad and Tobago would have to demit office. And if you don't believe me you would have heard the prime minister last night saying that I should be charged for misbehaviour in public office.

“This is the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago telling the country and the world that the Leader of the Opposition, who came to Parliament and raised an issue... (and) I am now in danger of being charged for misbehaviour in public office.

“The reason for that she says is that I have committed treason because I have created those emails to bring the government down. That is an admission on the part of the prime minister and the government that those emails, if found to be true, meant that the government has to go out of office.”

Rowley said he has never called for the government or the prime minister to demit office on the basis of the emails, saying “all I have called for is an investigation and all hell break loose in Trinidad and Tobago.

“And it is because she understands that the truth of those emails, if so established, is the end of her and her regime. And that will explain their conduct since May 20."

Rowley defended the process used to hold the urgent meeting with the chairman of the Integrity Commission saying on “May 15 I asked my staff to call the Integrity Commission staff to seek a meeting with the Chairman.

“On my way home just after 6 ‘o'clock, a call came from the chairman saying to me I understand you were trying to reach me. He said I am home you can stop by. So I stopped by the chairman. So if there is a problem here as there appears to be, I will take responsibility for accepting going to the chairman's home.

"The government is interpreting that in the most sinister way, interpreting it as a conspiracy,” Rowley said, adding that he was also taking “full responsibility” for going to the chairman’s house for the meeting.

Rowley said it is also strange that Prime Minister Persad Bissessar, who had earlier indicated that her heart was pure, had nothing to hide and was prepared to hand over her computers and electronic equipment to the police, was now indicating that she had sensitive national security information on those equipment.

“When she said in Parliament and anywhere else that she'd make them available, apparently her mind was fuzzy, she didn't know then that she was head of the National Security Council,” Rowley said.

“The only way that this matter could be properly looked at too see if those conversations took place is to go to the server to see if "A" talk to "B" and "C" talked to "D".

“But strangely enough, the government of Trinidad and Tobago with full legal power, with full sovereign power has done absolutely nothing to go to the server to confirm to you by an independent source that those conversations never took place,” he added.