SHARON TAKES ON AGRowley's wife writes Jeremie: Tell public Cayman Islands bank cleared my name
Ria Taitt
Tuesday, March 23rd 2010
Dissociating herself from any account in the Cayman Islands, Sharon Clark-Rowley, wife of Dr Keith Rowley, has appealed to Attorney General John Jeremie to take the necessary steps to clear her name.
In a letter which was hand-delivered last Friday to Jeremie’s office, Rowley (S) called on the Attorney General to release the information provided to him by Alexandria Bancorp Ltd (the bank in which a US $6.5 million account is allegedly held), which would clear her of any suspicion that she has money in the Cayman Island jurisdiction.
Sharon is a senior attorney and Jeremie, as Attorney General, is also titular head of the Bar.
Mrs Rowley told Jeremie that the circulation of a document alleging that she and her husband had bank accounts in the Cayman Islands was “clearly the act of a malicious individual or individuals, determined to destroy my good reputation and that of my husband”.
“That is particularly so since I had never heard of the Cayman bank prior to the revelation (in the media). I do not have an account in the Cayman Islands. I have never held an account in that territory and I hold no account outside of Trinidad and Tobago,” she stated in the letter.
UNDER FIRE: Attorney General John Jeremie
Shortly after Mrs Rowley delivered this letter, Jeremie made a statement to Parliament, in which he made no mention of any alleged Cayman Island account or of the Rowleys.
But in the draft of the statement, he had stated that reports of a Cayman Island bank account held in the name of a former minister were a hoax and a total fabrication.
Yesterday, Jeremie, when questioned about the letter sent by Mrs Rowley, said he acknowledged receiving the letter and said he was giving consideration to it.
He stressed that he had “nothing further to add to his release of Saturday”, in which he stated that “despite strenuous attempts through the official channels to investigate the veracity of reports of Cayman Islands accounts, the Ministry of the Attorney General is still not yet in receipt of any definitive, official information required to make a statement on this issue”.
The manager of the Cayman Island Bank (Alexandria Bancorp), in a letter dated March 17, had advised the Rowleys to go to the Attorney General. The Rowleys had corresponded and received a communication from the bank manager, Robert Madden, which advised them to seek information from the Attorney General.
Madden, in the letter to the Rowleys’ attorney, Margaret Rose, revealed that his bank had made representations to the Ministry of the Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago regarding the alleged accounts.
“As I suspect that you may have a right to disclosure of these representations, I would encourage you to contact the Attorney General’s office,” he wrote.
Madden stated that his bank, as a general practice, does not respond to “civil requests for account information... whether such accounts exist or not”.
“However,” he noted, “given the particularly public nature of the allegations, we are sensitive to your interest in answering these charges. I am prepared in this context to disclose to you that we have made representations to the Ministry of the Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Sharon Rowley, in her letter to Jeremie, conveyed this information to him. “Having regard to the very serious nature of these patently false allegations, contact has been made with Alexandria Bancorp and information has been provided that there is no such account at this bank in my name... The bank has advised that we should contact you in order to have this information disclosed... I hereby request that you advise me of the response of Alexandria Bancorp, in so far as it relates to the alleged bank accounts or, in the alternative, that you make public the content of such response,” she stated in her letter.
It would appear that Madden was under the mistaken impression that the Rowleys had been “vindicated” by the Attorney General’s statement and in an e-mail sent at 16.58 (4.58 p.m.) on Friday to the Rowleys’ attorney, Rose, stated: “I understand that earlier today the Attorney General for Trinidad made a public announcement advising that his office had fully investigated the allegations and determined that they were a complete fabrication. I hope that this brings vindication to your clients.”
Yesterday, Rowley said the Attorney General had created this whole situation and the only remedy was to publish for the whole country to see, what the Cayman Island Bank told him “so we can all know what the truth is”.
Rowley said his wife, a senior member of the Bar, had written to the Attorney General and he (Rowley) expected the AG, as head of the Bar, to do all he can to clear her name. But he was doing just the opposite.
“It is her name that is on that ‘hoax’ document,” Rowley noted. He added: “They are now having difficulty admitting that it was all a hoax. But on close examination, one doesn’t have to look very far to see the origin of the hoax.”
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/nart?id=161612903hmmmmmm what was it the esteemed and honorable PM said in his last address?
Asked why he failed to take action on a report of bid-rigging at Udecott made to him by his fired Trade Minister Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley since 2003, Manning said, “You don’t know the whole story. You only know part of that story. The rest of the story will come out in due course. Let’s not be side-tracked with this issue at this time. Let me also say this. Please do not come to conclusions on the basis of a part story of which you might be aware. The matter is not over yet.”
Asked if the public is right to feel that Rowley who was fired after raising questions over the management of Udecott in 2008, is near total vindication, Manning said, “If that is the view of the public, that is the public’s view, let’s see. Remember what I’ve said before. One has to await the evening in order to determine how splendid the day has been. It’s not evening yet.”
