Why does former Flying Squad member Mervyn Cordner keep changing his story?

Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams raised this question as he maintained yesterday he never met with Cordner.

At a news conference on Monday, Cordner claimed he had three meetings with Williams in the setting-up of the New Flying Squad Investigations Unit (NFSIU).

Cordner further claimed he met Williams in the corridors at the headquarters of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, where he gave him a list of 45 NFSIU officers to be precepted.

However, Cordner's claims contradict a previous interview with the Sunday Express, where he said he never met Williams.

Williams was questioned on the issue yesterday by the media in Arima, where the Prime Minister was touring a police station under construction.

"No, I don't care to comment because somewhere along the line if you follow the utterances of Mr Cordner, the answer is already there. Right, so I don't have to comment. You follow his utterances, from his very first utterance to his second utterance and now to his last utterance and the answer is there," said Williams.

Asked if he ever met Cordner in any corridor, Williams laughed and said: "I have never had any meeting with Mr Cordner. I said that from the day one and I'm saying it now and I will continue to say it.

"But I am saying the media—and that's the interesting thing about the media, you know—the media interviewed him, he made an utterance, the media interviewed him, he made another utterance, the media interviewed him a third time and he made a different utterance, but you asking me instead of Mr Cordner. Why is he changing his utterances? Is he you have to ask."

Williams, under the directive of the Prime Minister, has been asked to investigate the NFSIU and Cordner's claims that it was sanctioned by the ministry.

Both Williams and National Security Minister Jack Warner have denied any knowledge of it.