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Dr Keith Rowley. - File photoFORMER prime minister Dr Keith Rowley is demanding answers from government and police after he says he was detained twice at an airport in Antigua while in transit to and from Montserrat.
Rowley said he was told he was on an Interpol watch list and wants to know how and why that could have happened. He also demanded his name be immediately removed from the list.
Rowley made the statements at a news conference at his home in Goodwood Park, Glencoe on July 21.
However in responses later that day, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro have denied that Rowley was on any Interpol watch list.
At the July 21 briefing, Rowley said he went to Montserrat last week to participate in activities marking the 30th anniversary of the island's Volcano Observatory scientific opening.
Rowley had previously indicated he would be returning to his former activities as a vulcanologist after his retirement from politics.
He said he had planned to be back in the field to examine the Soufriere volcano in Montserrat.
At the briefing, he said while he was in transit from Antigua to Montserrat, Rowley recalled experiencing a delay in immigration in Antigua.
He said he did not think much about it at the time.
Rowley said he was later told by an immigration officer "the reason why I was delayed was because I was on a watch list."
Not wanting to make it an issue, Rowley said he made no response to the statement.
"I went on to Montserrat. I was received in Montserrat and enjoyed the protocols. We did what we had to do and came back to Antigua on my way home (on July 20)."
On this occasion, he continued, a similar delay happened at immigration in Antigua.
"After a protracted period, the officer came back to me and said that I was on some list."
Rowley said, '"I asked the officer, What is this about?"
He said while the officer could not give him that information, he was able to speak with the officer's supervisor.
"The supervisor explained to me that this development which I am experiencing is as result of mistaken identity."
Rowley asked who was he being confused with but was told it was with someone who might have the same birth date as him.
Rowley was born on October 24, 1949.
He said, "That's when I got very concerned and I knew that this was not any ordinary situation."
He added that the supervisor indicated the Antigua & Barbuda police were looking for this unnamed person.
"People's location and Antigua police are not arbitrary things. "
Rowley said he was eventually cleared to leave Antigua and returned home.
Shortly after returning to Trinidad and Tobago, Rowley said he made the necessary investigations through his Caricom contacts.
As prime minister, Rowley held the national security portfolio in Caricom's quasi-cabinet for nine years.
He said, "It was confirmed to me then that I was on Interpol's list."
Rowley added his delays in immigration in Antigua were because of that country's police responding to what he was told was Interpol's interest in him.
Rowley: Why is Interpol interested in me?
"It immediately raises the question what exactly would have happened with me and to me to cause Interpol to be interested with me."
As prime minister, Rowley was National Security Council (NSC) chairman for nine years.
He told reporters he was not unfamiliar with Interpol and its interactions with governments and police authorities worldwide.
Rowley read detailed documents about Interpol and its functions.
"Interpol is not a police force and cannot arrest individuals neither can it investigate crimes. Interpol only helps police forces around the world to co-operate and arrest criminals. So it is assistance that you go to Interpol for."
He advised reporters about red notices which are issued by Interpol. He said a red notice "contains the details of an individual wanted for extradition or surrender."
Interpol, Rowley continued, stored that information in its databases and law-enforcement officers worldwide could see it.
"Police officers in the (Interpol) member countries will be on high alert to arrest the mentioned person."
He said it was no longer the case of mistaken identity that immigration officers in Antigua had told him about.
"I am saying here now to you that the only way my name could have got to Interpol, it would have been by way of documentation of one kind or another placed there by some authority either in TT or some other nation."
Rowley said as a former NSC chairman, he was aware taht the CoP was the liasion between the police and Interpol.
He added he would be shocked to know of any country where such could happen to a former head of state without Interpol interacting with that country's political directorate.
"It could not have happened without the involvement and initiation by the authorities of TT."
Rowley placed the blame for the incident squarely on the shoulders of Persad-Bissessar and Attorney General John Jeremie. He claimed the matter was not just personal but national.
He described the incident as a "dastardly" fabrication.
Rowley claimed his alleged placement on an Interpol watch list was an act perpetrated by a government bent on spite and retribution.
He said the UNC was upset it could find no evidence of wrongdoing against him during his tenure as prime minister.
"I have left office with my integrity intact, my record clear and my conscience clear."
He claimed the UNC was also jealous that before he resigned as prime minister, many Caricom leaders praised him as the quintessential Caribbean man.
After recalling the police recently removed a police post that was stationed close to his house, Rowley questioned why the police never interacted with him before, if they were provided with information that alleged he was involved in some kind of misconduct.
"If the police are interested in me, they know where to find me."
Rowley is not contemplating legal action or any other action such as a freedom of information request to get answers on the matter from government.
He called on Persad-Bissessar and Jeremie to tell the population why a former prime minister is now a person of interest to Interpol.
Rowley said he had come to expect a certain type of behavior from government and recalled that 48 hours after assuming office "attempts made to find and remove the passports of my children."
He said the Interpol matter had not caused him to worry about his personal security.
"I trust that to the people of TT."
Rowley called on government to "take my name out of your defamation."
CoP: Rowley's name not on any Interpol list
In a statement issued hours later, Guevarro said, "The TTPS (TT Police Service), through its Interpol Bureau, promptly initiated a review of internal systems. Comprehensive checks were conducted across Interpol’s secure databases which yielded a definitive result- Dr Rowley is not listed on any Interpol watch list or international notice."
He added, "No alerts, flags, or warrants are associated with his name in Interpol's systems."
The police have not submitted nor caused to be submitted, any information to Interpol that would justify such a listing.
Guevarro repeated, "There is no record, directive, or procedural action from any department within the TTPS that supports the allegation of local involvement in the matter."
He rejected any suggestion of political interference or state-sponsored defamation.
Guevarro defended the police as an independent and apolitical institution.
"No evidence has emerged indicating that the organisation, or any of its members, has participated in politically motivated conduct regarding Dr Rowley."
He said the police urge "responsible dialogue in the public sphere, especially when reputational harm and institutional trust are at stake." While public scrutiny and transparency are vital to democratic processes, Guevarro continued, it is equally important that commentary is grounded in verified fact."
Rowley did not respond to Guevarro's statement.
In a WhatsApp comment, Young expressed concern about what Rowley experienced on his recent travels. "The government has to respond and advise what they know about the matter of Dr Rowley on a 'watchlist.'"
Young, who is also a former national security minister, said the police's statement on the matter did not explain why Rowley was subject to immigration issues in Antigua and why he was informed that he is on a “watchlist.”
In a statement, PNM PRO Faris Al-Rawi said, "The country must be told if, in fact, Dr Rowley's name has been placed on an Interpol Watch List with the knowledge and/or involvement of local authorities and if so, when this has happened."
The former attorney general added the PNM supported Rowley's call for Persad-Bissessar and Jeremie "to provide immediate and complete disclosure on this matter."
Al-Rawi said Rowley had served in public life for 45 years, which included two terms as prime minister.
He added Rowley was also a well-respected regional leader in Caricom.
In a WhatsApp comment, former CoP Gary Griffith dismissed Rowley's comments.
Griffith was CoP from 2018-2021 while Rowley was prime minister.
He described Rowley's comments as a case of the biblical quotation in Matthew 7:12 , "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Griffith asked Rowley where was his concern when his government allegedly "weaponised the state against others."
He repeated claims that under the PNM, $42 million were provided to the police to "finance investigations targeting political opponents" instead of fighting crime.
"Anyone who disagreed with you became fair game. Now, as the tide turns, you seek sympathy?"
Griffith said, "The evil that men do lives after them.”
He claimed Rowley was living a legacy which he created with his own hands.
"What goes around, comes around."
PM: Rowley must apologise for baseless claims
In her own statement, Persad-Bissessar called on Rowley to apologise for making baseless claims and wasting the population's time with reckless conspiracy theories.
"After nearly a decade marked by mismanagement and decline, followed by his quiet retreat into a life of luxurious retirement, Dr Rowley re-emerged to host a press conference only to level spurious, unfounded, and inflammatory allegations."
She rejected Rowley's claims that she, Jeremie and the police conspired to have his name placed on Interpol’s watch list.
"Rather than seek a direct explanation from the TTPS – something any responsible citizen could have done – Dr Rowley chose to broadcast insinuations of a politically driven international smear campaign."
Referring to an earlier statement issued by Guevarro, Persad-Bissessar said Rowley should summon the media back to his house for another news conference now that the police's statement has caused the fog of sensationalism to lift.
She called on Rowley "not to fan the flames of paranoia, but to issue a full and unreserved apology to the nation."
In an immediate response to the Prime Minister, Rowley dismissed her statement.
"After her role in the Vernella Alleyne slander and her AG's role in a '40 million bank account' in Cayman Island in my wife’s name, I trust that the Hon Prime Minister is not saying that she and her Attorney General will never be associated with any such or similar spiteful action anywhere."
He said, "I also hope that she is not saying that I, as the person examined in Antigua, would not know when I am the subject of interest as comes up when my passport is entered to be read by the requisite machines."
Rowley added, "I am glad to hear that my experience was only a dream, and now that I have awakened myself, I have nothing of the sort to worry about anywhere."
In March 2015, Alleyne-Toppin (then Tobago East MP) moved a no-confidence motion against Rowley (then opposition leader) which made several allegations against him, including accusing him of rape. Then speaker (now Senate President) Wade Mark subsequently determined no prima facie case had been made against Rowley with respect to the motion but no disciplinary action was needed against Alleyne-Toppin.
In March 2010, Sharon Rowley wrote to Jeremie (who was AG in the then Patrick Manning administration) to clear her name with respect to a bank account in the Cayman Islands.
She said neither she nor her husband had bank accounts there and information alleging they did was "clearly the act of a malicious individual or individuals, determined to destroy my good reputation and that of my husband."
At that time, Jeremie said his ministry was unable to receive official information required to make a statement on the issue.
Rowley claimed Jeremie created the problem and should admit the matter was a hoax.
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