— calls for DPP review

ATTORNEY General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, SC. has described the move on Thursday by People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) Juan Edghill and Vickram Bharrat to file private criminal charges against Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence and Minister of Social Cohesion Dr. George Norton, for misconduct and abuse of public trust, as “malicious”.

Williams told reporters Saturday that the move to file the charges by attorney Anil Nandlall, also represents an “aberration to the Rule of Law” and that it is an insult to good governance and an abuse of the process of the court,to allow such “unsubstantiated recourse to our justice system based solely on malice, whim and caprice”.

The attorney general contended that there is no evidence of criminality on the part of the two ministers, which has been contended by the investigatory and prosecutorial agencies of the state.

Notwithstanding those charges, Williams, SC made it clear that the duo would be vindicated. In response to a question posed by the Guyana Chronicle, he disclosed that his office has already approached Barbadian Queens Counsel, Ralph A. Thorne and Hal Gallop.
“We had to have recourse to the two Barbadian Queens Counsel who I again have already spoken to in relation to my two ministers, because if you wish to mess around my ministers, you’d have to have the best representation; trusted representation,” asserted Williams.

Reading from a prepared statement, the attorney general who has just returned from an overseas conference in the US, said “to countenance partisan, political, private criminal charges coming out of Freedom House is a recipe for returning Guyana to the status of a failed narco-state as it was under Presidents Jagdeo and Ramotar.”
He noted that establishment of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by the constitution empowers the holder of the office with total power over all prosecutions, whether initiated or undertaken by her or some other authority.

“If charges are initiated by others, the DPP can discontinue them if she so desires, or take them over and continue them,” Williams said, while explaining that the DPP has the “powers of quality control” over all prosecutions here.
He said the DPP, Shalimar Ali-Hack, also has a proactive duty to patrol the corridors of justice to ensure her domain is not polluted by “jaundiced interlopers”.

NO COMPARISON
He stressed that there is no comparison between the cases where the DPP charged former Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh and former head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington for misconduct of public office, contrary to the common law and the private charges laid by Edghill and Bharrat.

One week prior, the charges against Dr Singh and Brassington, who both reside abroad, were filed by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU). According to the first charge, Dr Singh and Brassington in December 2009 “acted recklessly” when they sold to National Hardware Guyana Limited, lands amounting to 103.88 acres, property of the state for the sum of $598, 659, 398 (vat exclusive) without first having procured a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer.

The second charge alleged that the duo in December, 2008 “without due diligence” sold to Scady Business Corporation, land located at Liliendaal, ECD, amounting to 4,700 acres, also the property of the state for the sum of $150,000,000 knowing that the said property was valued at $340,000,000 by Rodrigues Architects Associate.

The final charge alleges that they in May, 2011 “acted recklessly” when they sold to Multi-cinemas Guyana Inc. 10, 002 acres of land located at Turkeyen, ECD, property of the state for the sum of $185, 037,000 without first having procured a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer.

The DPP has since been asked by Nandlall to review the charges laid against his clients. On Saturday, Williams made it clear that it is expected that no less a treatment would be meted out, given the circumstances.

“…the government would expect no lesser treatment for the charges she (DPP) did not institute, lest the floodgates open to create a festival of private criminal charges even against the leader of the opposition,” he stated.

COMMITTED TO TRANSPARENCY
On Friday, Minister of State Joseph Harmon maintained that his government is committed to transparency and ending corruption, noting that the charges brought against Dr Singh and Brassington were not politically motivated or directed by his administration.
In an interview with the Public Information and Press Services Department of the Ministry of the Presidency, Harmon described the charges brought against Lawrence and Dr Norton as frivolous and a clear attempt to taint the reputation of members of the government. Like Williams, Harmon said the two ministers will be vindicated.

“These talks of corruption are without any proof and the opposition is now seeking to grab at straws… The security agencies, the Police Force and so on have their work to do and when they find as they have been doing, evidence of corruption, evidence of malfeasance and they will take the necessary steps,” Minister Harmon said.
The Minister of State contended that the charges brought by the PPP MPs is a strategy aimed at tying the government ministers up in court so that government can be distracted from its development agenda.

The minister said that the David Granger administration, since its assumption of office in 2015, has had the Herculean task of fixing the systematic corruption, which existed under the former administration. He noted that it is under this administration that significant steps were taken to improve accountability and transparency in the public sector and the world’s perception of Guyana.

Meanwhile, while the charges against Dr Norton and Lawrence were not read in court, as the duo were not present, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan summoned both ministers, who are expected to appear in court on Tuesday.

It is alleged that Lawrence while performing the duties of Minister of Public Health between January 16, February 16, 2017 “wilfully misconducted herself in a way which amounted to an abuse of public trust without reasonable excuse or justification, when she authorised or caused the unapproved single sourcing and purchase of drugs and medical supplies for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, in the city of Georgetown from ANSA McAL Trading Limited… for the excessive sum of $605,962,200”.

The charge against Dr Norton however, alleges that while “performing the duties of Minister of Public Health of the Government of Guyana, June 1, 2016… wilfully misconducted himself in a way which amounted to an abuse of public trust without reasonable excuse or justification, when he authorised or caused the rental of the property known as and situated at 29 Sussex Street, Albouystown, in the city of Georgetown from Linden Holdings Incorporated… for the sum of $12,500,000 exclusive of VAT, per month, by way of a written Agreement of Tenancy at an excessive rate of rental”.