Commissioner Had No Reason to Halt Investigation
The Commissioner blames ‘media spin’ for the misunderstanding and what he says is his subsequent decision to withdraw from any administrative handling of either the ‘missing files’ case or the Won Hong Kim case. But at the end of the day, he conceded that even he does not know how the former case turned out because Valdez never came back to him despite the Commissioner’s offers to intercede with the Immigration Department.
Allen Whylie, Commissioner of Police
“The spin was that ‘Commissioner Whylie had said not to investigate;’ and in my view it was the converse of that, I wanted an investigation. I had nothing to do in terms of any wrongdoing at Immigration; I didn’t tell any Immigration officer to shortcut any process; I didn’t ask for any favor; I didn’t recommend anybody; so why in the world as Commissioner of Police, I wouldn’t want the investigation to be done? And so I saw the mischief there, and that was the reason why I did not pursue the investigation that Mr. Valdez was doing; nor the other investigation. I knew it was being done – the Head, NCIB, who was tasked to coordinate those matters, is quite competent and I have the full confidence in him that he could get the job done.”
Allen Whylie
Mark Lizarraga, Pro-tem Chair, Senate Special Select Committee
“But do you know, Commissioner, what has been the result of both these investigations? Can you tell us?”
Allen Whylie
“I don’t know in terms of the Valdez investigation, because as I said, I did not follow that up with him because I could see that there was some mischief there.”
Mark Lizarraga
“So it is fair to say that the matter remains unsolved, because nobody knows what has happened to the case of the missing files?”
Allen Whylie
“You can say that; you can say that because I can’t say that Mr. Valdez – I thought that Mr. Valdez had completed his investigation and he had submitted the file to the D.P.P.”
Eamon Courtenay, P.U.P. Senator
“Mr. Valdez sat right there earlier today, and made it very clear to this Committee that there is a person who gave him certain instructions and he refused to reveal the name of the person. Two names came up – [Russell] Blackett and you. He specifically said it wasn’t Blackett; giving the impression as you had said just now – the impression, nothing more than that – that well if it’s not him…call a name and I’ll whistle. So Commissioner, now you are saying that it wasn’t you; so we know that it wasn’t you and it wasn’t Blackett, so Mr. Valdez crazy?”
Allen Whylie
“Maybe you should ask Mr. Valdez that question. I can’t say he’s crazy; I’m telling you that I did not give him any such instructions.”
Whylie said he would endeavor to check on the result of the case and report to the Senate Committee.
