After several attempts to contact Christopher Wylie who made allegations in his book Mind F*ck that Cambridge Analytica was engaged in the election process in Trinidad and Tobago through illegal data mining, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) have closed the case. National Security Minister Stuart Young (in this Trinidad Express Photo) made the call for the investigation.

“The allegations that sometime in 2009 and 2010, Christopher Wylie has access to electronic data in T&T with the intention of interfering with the election process is contained in a book. The Police Service became aware of this and we were duty-bound to investigate,” Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Jayson Forde said at a Police Press Briefing on Wednesday afternoon.

“The information that we got was that Wylie was somewhere in the UK, as such several attempts were made to communicate with persons and organizations that could have assisted our investigations-  via telephone calls, email, WhatsApp and documented message. In the main, the investigative team had no responses. In light of that, we are stumped. The  TTPS is closing this investigation pending the emergence of evidence to support the investigation,” Forde said.

Forde who led the investigative team further explained that he first contacted Wylie’s attorney and had a pleasant conversation but said subsequent telephone calls went straight to voicemail. In November 2019, Minister of National Security Stuart Young officially requested that a criminal investigation be launched into allegations made by Wylie which he said involved the opposition United National Congress. At the time Young said that both the Ministry of National Security and the Office of the Attorney General would request the information.