After the Senate Hearing today, we asked PUP Senator Eamon Courtenay about the behavior from the UDP visitors to the gallery. He was the subject of the vicious heckling, and the UDP’s were “throwing phrasesâ€￾ at him from the moment they arrived.

He said that this was deliberate to try to disrupt the questioning that he was putting Penner through:

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"The proceedings last week were disturbed by the chairman of the United Democratic Party Mr. August. Mr. August came back again today; he was accompanied by others including the sergeant at arms of this honourable house. So these are of part of the official United Democratic Party, part of the house staff and they were the person who came here today to disturb the proceedings with a clear intent to do so let's make no mistake about that. So first of all as far as I'm concerned I regard it as being done with the sanction on approval of the higher echelons of the United Democratic Party and Mr. Penner you heard him at the very beginning give a political speech, clearly that was also rehearsed and prepared for the purposes of today's hearing. The question is why? It's very simple, it's very obvious it is clear that I believe to people who have seen this that the United Democratic Party government and certain ministers and other officials in particular have things to hide and I was one of the persons including my other senators who were asking pertinent and relevant questions and putting Mr. Penner on the hot seat and hence they decided that they were going to distract and disrupt the proceedings today. I will insist next week and in the future that the chairman ensures that order prevails and if people wish to behave like the way they behaved today then the rules of the national assembly will have to be applied and will be put out. This inquiry is important, the ramification, legal and political are very clear and I have a duty as a member of the senate select committee to ask my questions, to ask my questions without any type of distraction or disturbance. I think that Senator Salazar didn't want to bring down the heavy hand today, last week he kicked out Mr. August rightly so."