“SOME PEOPLE believe that the state purse belongs to them alone,” said Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine in his long-awaited response to a controversial audio note which has been circulating implicating him.

In an eighty-minute “public briefing” released online on Friday on the eve of the long holiday weekend, Mr Augustine confirmed the audio was genuine but said it was merely the end result of a plot by a contractor to extort millions from the THA. In a series of allegations and disclosures that will go down as being among the most scandalous ever ventilated in this country’s politics, whether in Trinidad or Tobago, Mr Augustine told a tale of blackmail, corruption and conspiracy, at times involving threats to his life and the lives of members of his family and his administration.

So intense was the pressure applied to him to pay a certain contractor, he said, that there were even threats to kidnap individuals, as well as the intervention of at least two senior government officials. He linked it all to his political opponents on both islands.

When the dust settled, though, the Chief Secretary had confessed two key things.

First, his administration considered, though it did not apparently implement, the use of state resources to pay people to spread propaganda.

Secondly, since March 13, his administration has been subject to an attempt to extort it through the release of a recording of the said propaganda discussion.

In relation to the latter, such an attempt to blackmail elected officials required the immediate intervention of law enforcement authorities, and the Chief Secretary had a duty to act.

At the same time, the deliberations of Mr Augustine and company, too, demand a full investigation and, indeed, are already subject to a police probe, as revealed by this newspaper this week.

Unfortunately, whether or not plans were acted upon, laws may well have been broken given the range of criminal offences that involve mere conspiracy.

Certainly, Mr Augustine and his team appear guilty of a lapse, if momentary, of judgment. For just as he has taken steps to zealously guard state funds in the face of questionable contract claims, so too did he have a duty to protect citizens from schemes to employ people on the public payroll to do private political favours on whatever scale.

“We will not bow to threats,” the Chief Secretary said, flanked by members of his administration, some of whom were moved to tears by his narrative of sacrifice and heroism. “I will see the audit through and those who did wrong will be brought to justice.”

But if the rule of law applies to all, it matters not whether one is a contractor or a chief secretary.

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