Shane Su­perville

Se­nior Re­porter

shane.su­perville@guardian.co.tt

While he did not want to di­vulge any in­for­ma­tion about the on­go­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the con­duct of sus­pend­ed po­lice com­mis­sion­er Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher, act­ing Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Ju­nior Ben­jamin says the mat­ter is “very much ac­tive.”

He said they will con­tin­ue to li­aise with the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP) and fol­low his di­rec­tives in this mat­ter.

On Jan­u­ary 30, Hare­wood-Christo­pher was ar­rest­ed by a team of po­lice, led by DCP In­tel­li­gence and In­ves­ti­ga­tions Suzette Mar­tin, at her of­fice at the Po­lice Ad­min­is­tra­tion Build­ing, Sackville Street, Port-of-Spain.

She was ques­tioned by in­ves­ti­ga­tors as the probe in­to the ac­qui­si­tion of two AX2 bolt-ac­tion sniper ri­fles, which were re­port­ed­ly pro­cured for use by the Strate­gic Ser­vices Agency (SSA), in­ten­si­fied.

Hare­wood-Christo­pher was re­leased one day lat­er on Feb­ru­ary 1, with­out any charges be­ing laid.

Sources con­firmed that DCP Mar­tin and her team met with the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP) for guid­ance on whether charges should be laid on at least two oc­ca­sions since Hare­wood-Christo­pher’s ar­rest but were sent back to con­tin­ue their in­ves­ti­ga­tions.

Con­tact­ed for com­ment yes­ter­day, Ben­jamin said the po­lice con­tin­ued to recog­nise their re­spon­si­bil­i­ties in the mat­ter and as­sured that they were tak­ing the mat­ter se­ri­ous­ly.

“As we con­tin­ue to do our part, we will con­tin­ue to li­aise with the DPP, and we will on­ly fol­low the di­rec­tions of the DPP in this mat­ter, so we await fur­ther in­struc­tions from the DPP in this mat­ter.”

Guardian Me­dia tried to con­tact Hare­wood-Christo­pher’s at­tor­ney Pamela El­der, SC, via What­sApp but did not re­ceive any re­sponse up to late yes­ter­day.