Govt. admits it has been wiretapping

Georgetown: Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, says government can “lawfully” wire-tap private conversations of selected citizens, which the High Court has been “supportive upon requests for the ‘Interception of Communication.”

Despite opposition in Parliament the Interception of Communication Act known as wiretapping was legalized in the National Assembly.

Dr Luncheon is also Chair the Defence Board.

According to the legislation: “If a judge issuing a warrant under this Act is satisfied that the operation of a public or private telecommunications system has failed to comply with the warrant for want of any support services for the transmission, switching equipment or any other technical facility or requirement, he may direct that the owner, operator or licensee of the telecommunications system shall, at his own cost, forthwith provide the required support service, install necessary switching equipment, or provide the technical facility or requirement, as the case may be, for complying with the warrant to the satisfaction of the court; and the compliance with this subsection shall be deemed to be a condition in the licence granted for the operation of the telecommunication system.”

To date, none of the alleged recordings made from lawful wiretapping have been tendered in the court to be used as evidence against anyone.