THE Prime Minister has offered no opinion on a decision by Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, to instruct Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher to initiate criminal investigations to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge any person or entity with manslaughter by gross negligence over the Paria diving tragedy.
But Dr Rowley wondered whether Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar will publicly demand that no one conduct business with Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd on the basis of Gaspard's advice to the police.
He made those statements at the PNM's Diego Martin West 51st annual constituency conference on August 3.
On February 25, 2022, Land Marine Construction Services (LMCS) divers Rishi Nagassar, Kazim Ali Jr, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry and Christopher Boodram were doing maintenance work on a 30-inch underwater pipeline belonging to Paria when they were sucked into it.
Only Boodram survived.
In a statement on July 30, Gaspard said he had considered the Paria Commission of Enquiry (CoE) report into the tragedy.
"I have identified the only possible non-regulatory criminal offence which could have been committed as being manslaughter by gross negligence," Gaspard said.
He added, "Unlike the in the UK, there has been no statutory intervention in Trinidad and Tobago to create an offence known as corporate manslaughter."
After studying the CoE report, Gaspard met with Harewood-Christopher on May 8. He wrote to the top cop two days later.
Gaspard advised her of his view that police "should commence a criminal investigation, so as to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge any individual or corporate entity with manslaughter by gross negligence.
"An investigation is required as the commission's report does not itself constitute evidence, and it is materially deficient in proving all of the elements of the offence to be investigated."
The DPP's statement added that Harewood-Christopher told him she had appointed an officer to lead the investigation.
Rowley told PNM members, "As a result of the matter with the unfortunate incident with the divers, the DPP has now instructed the police to use the evidence of the CoE to see whether any person or whether any company including Paria could be charged for criminal conduct including manslaughter."
He offered no opinion on that matter.
Earlier during the meeting, Rowley read a letter from Jindal Power and Steel Ltd chairman Naveen Jindal in which Jindal indicated his company would not make any formal offer for the former Petrotrin refinery in Pointe-a-Pierre based on attacks made against him and his company by the opposition and other people.
Rowley repeated that Jindal never made a formal proposal for the refinery when he visited TT in June.
But he said there was the possibility of Jindal's company proposing a US$700 million investment that could upgrade technology at the refinery to facilitate a possible restart.
He reminded PNM members that Persad-Bissessar and the UNC's oppo
