From Caribbean360

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Thursday August 14, 2014, CMC – A subpoena has been filed in the US Federal Court ordering Google to provide information to aid the “Emailgate” investigations.

The Integrity Commission hired top US attorney Gina Durham, partner co-Chair, US Social Media Practice at DLA Piper law firm, to initiate action.

The Trinidad Express reports that in a lawsuit filed on Monday in the Northern District court of California, Durham said the Integrity Commission requires the information to authenticate the alleged e-mails which would assist the commission in determining whether an offence was committed which should be turned over the Direction of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in support of an ongoing criminal investigation.

This move by the Integrity Commission comes more than a year since Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley made the allegations.

On May 20, 2013, Rowley, during his motion of no confidence against the People’s Partnership Government and the Prime Minister, disclosed the contents of 31 “e-mails” purporting to be exchanges between Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Minister of Local Government Surujrattan Rambachan and then national security adviser to the Prime Minister, Gary Griffith.

The e-mails alleged that plans were in the making to harm a journalist, plant electronic spy devices in the Office of the DPP, and offer the DPP a judgeship with respect to the Section 34 fiasco in September 2012.

“As part of an investigation into possible corruption at the highest levels of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, the commission is seeking to learn the owner of the e-mail accounts and authenticate specifically prior published e-mails that purportedly were sent from accounts maintained on servers controlled by Google (the “E-mails”)” stated Durham in her lawsuit.

“The commission requests this Court’s assistance in having these specific e-mails authenticated, in aid of the commission’s ongoing investigation,” stated the document. Durham outlined the allegations against the public officials named and listed the e-mails which the allegations purportedly came from.

She said the Prime Minister has not confirmed that any of the e-mail addresses belong to her.

Ramlogan has denied having a gmail account but has given consent to search his e-mail account which is controlled by Google, while Rambachan and Griffith confirmed, through counsel, that the mentioned accounts belong to them and have authorised Microsoft to release the contents of the e-mails to the commission.

Durham said the Commission’s application was not to circumvent the law of Trinidad and Tobago but in order to sufficiently authenticate documents in aid of an ongoing criminal investigation.

In response, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said he was glad to hear the Integrity Commission was making progress with respect to its investigations into Emailgate.

“I had always maintained that the commission had jurisdiction and authority as they are mandated to investigate misconduct of public officials, so better late than never,” said Rowley in an interview with the Trinidad Express.

He questioned whether there was any cooperation from the Central Authority in the Attorney General’s Office in obtaining information for the investigations. “I hope the Integrity Commission makes some progress…it would be a very sad thing if the questions surrounding these e-mails are unanswered,” said Rowley.

On Attorney General Anand Ramlogan’s disclosure that he has retained a US law firm to take action on Google and obtain information, Rowley questioned why Ramlogan did not reveal this before. “Where was he keeping that secret? Why are we now only being told this now if that is in fact happening?” asked Rowley.

IMAGE: US ATTORNEY GINA DURHAM, PARTNER CO-CHAIR, US SOCIAL MEDIA PRACTICE AT DLA PIPER LAW FIRM.

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/us-attorney-hired-to-sue-google-to-aid-trinidad-emailgate-investigations?utm_source=Caribbean360%20Newsletters&utm_campaign=8ec3d6a355-Vol_9_Issue_162_News8_14_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_350247989a-8ec3d6a355-39393477