–Trotman contends Gov’t has no intention to go after anyone

OPPOSITION Chief Whip Gail Teixeira on Thursday lashed out at the APNU+AFC coalition government for its decision to examine the possibility of establishing a special prosecutors’ unit, saying the establishment of such a unit would be tantamount to witch-hunting.At a post-cabinet press briefing on Thursday, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Raphael Trotman, disclosed that the Ministers of Legal Affairs and Public Security, Basil Williams and Khemraj Ramjattan, were tasked with advising Cabinet on the subject.

Trotman told reporters that Government has no intention of going after any one person or group of persons, while noting that “the idea of a special prosecutor has been mooted several months ago.”

He said the two ministers have been tasked with responsibility to advise Cabinet on the “feasibility of a special prosecutors’ office”, as the service of more than one special counsel may be needed for various high profile cases.

“It is not that we are going to appoint a special prosecutor for the case of police versus [Jennifer] Westford, for example; that would be tantamount to witch-hunting.”

He said Cabinet is to be advised by the two ministers within a fortnight, but the Opposition Chief Whip argued that Article 187 of the Constitution confers the powers of prosecution in criminal proceedings on the constitutional office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“This new action is a departure from the existing functional and professional system of prosecutions. The proposal to create a Special Prosecutions Unit cannot be seen as anything else but further institutionalization of another attempt to witch-hunt political opponents,” she said in a statement to the media.
“Were the Government to go through the DPP and the Guyana Police Force, both professional bodies governed by the constitution and statute, they would be expected to abide by a level of professionalism and follow specific guidelines and act based on evidence,” she said.

Teixeira said Government clearly has “no faith in these bodies”, and argued that establishment of the Special Prosecutions Unit is aimed at bypassing both the DPP and the Guyana Police Force to create “a separate and parallel prosecutions arm (that is) supported by the SARU and SOCU under the total control of the political elite in the Ministry of the Presidency.”

The Opposition Chief Whip said the move by the Government to radically depart from existing constitutional and legal provisions can only be interpreted as a move “designed to target and witch hunt the parliamentary opposition and political opponents.”

Teixeira said statements by President Granger which suggest that the forensic audits did not produce “sufficient evidence” to lay criminal charges against former officials of the Government is also telling.

“This announcement follows ominously on the statement by Minister Jaipaul Sharma that Cabinet will be deciding on who will be charged with criminal offences based on these forensic audits — the same audits which were carried out by select political supporters of the APNU+AFC government.”

She is of the opinion that the current administration has put Guyana “on a slippery and dangerous slope (by) undermining the rule of law and eroding the separation of the powers between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.

Guyana Chronicle was unable to reach Minister Trotman on Friday, but he was quoted by online news Demerara Waves as saying there is nothing unique about the establishment of a Special Prosecutors Unit in Guyana or the Commonwealth.

“The previous Government utilized the services of (Attorney-at-Law Anil) Nandlall with great effect, and there is nothing irregular or unconstitutional about it,” Trotman told Demerara Waves Online News.

“The nation has not forgotten when Nandlall led a team to prosecute Mark Benschop and others; so all of a sudden this is unconstitutional, but when they were doing it it was constitutional,” Trotman told Demerara Waves Online News.

He said an application has to be made to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for her Chambers’ duties to be delegated to a selected lawyer as a prosecutor for a particular case.