March 13th, 2010.

’I have no foreign bank account.

My wife has no foreign bank account.’

’Again I say, I have no account in Caymans! I never had, and I do not now have!’

That was the categorical denial of Diego Martin West MP Keith Rowley last night, as he responded to reports that documents were being circulated in the media purporting to show that his wife, Sharon, had a bank account of US$6.5 million (TT$40 million) in the Cayman Islands, to which Rowley is also a signatory.

Separate documents circulating also show that Rowley has another account at First Citizens with TT $167,445.

Reports yesterday alleged that the holder of the accounts was to be arrested shortly because neither account was declared to the Integrity Commission.

But a furious Rowley last evening slammed what he described as ’another desperate’ attempt’ to slander his name in the face of what has been deemed to be his apparent exoneration in the Calder Hart affair.

Said Rowley: ’It has been brought to my attention by the media that this document has surfaced from which it can be determined that my wife’s name is being called and therefore this slander is being pointed at me.

And I want to give the categorical assurance, to the extent that this slander is being pointed to me that: 1) Neither myself nor my wife has any bank account abroad.

I have nothing outside of Trinidad and Tobago. 2) I understand the local bank is FCB.

I have no local account at FCB.

I run a credit card at FCB.

The only business transaction I have with FCB is a Visa card which I service on an ongoing basis.

’I say it again-I have no foreign bank account.

My wife has no foreign bank account.

So clearly this scandal and slander cannot apply to me.’

’But, the document circulating, from the information I have received, is pointing at me and my family.

So once again, attempts are being made to tarnish my character in this country.

And I take this development today in close association with a comment made by the Prime Minister today in a press conference (when a media person said the perception in the country was that Rowley was exonerated), in which he (Manning) indicated to the country that it should wait until the evening has ended to see how splendid the day has been,’ Rowley thundered.

’And therefore I am not surprised at this development ... I took that comment to be an expectation on his part that I will somehow be found wanting.

’You all must understand that there are serious things involved in the allegations against some people today, and there is a level of desperation going down in certain quarters.

There is a level of desperation in certain quarters and this is a tangible manifestation of that extreme desperation existing in certain levels of the society.’

He added, ’The country would have seen what came my way in the Integrity Commission as well as in the Parliament, just because I am viewed in a certain way by certain people.

And certain people have taken a decision that they will change my image in this country.

So whoever would have done this, it is just another attempt.’

Noting previous allegations against him, Rowley said, ’This is just another version of the ’10 million missing, whey de money gone?

’Someone fabricates a story, placing my wife’s name on a document, sends it to the media, hoping that the media will publish it.

Whoever has done that, it is aimed at me.’

Rowley said he hoped that those who print the documents with a story, ’print it in a way that allows me and my lawyers to get active.

I will welcome that’.

Noting that the television report which referred to this matter did not name him, but merely said that a former minister in this country was to be charged for holding a foreign bank account in breach of the integrity laws, Rowley said he was not the only ’former minister’ in the country.

But, he stressed, he had been told by the media who received documents anonymously that his wife’s name was ’extractable from it’.

Therefore, he said, he had to respond.

’I have no account abroad, period.

Neither does my wife.

So this is an attempt to smear and slander... part of the concerted effort in certain quarters to change my image and tarnish my character.

And that has been going on now for some time now in full public view,’ he said.