STATE prosecutors have expressed unwillingness to appear in “highly political,” cases leaving government with no other choice but to seek out special attorneys to fight their cause in the ‘Pradoville 2 and the Guyana Cricket World Cup Inc. scams, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams has said. He also dismissed as double standards, PPP MP Anil Nandlall’s criticism,saying he (Nandlall) had profited as a special prosecutor under the previous administration in the highly sensitive treason trial of Social Activist, Mark Benschop. “We were forced into that position because the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had indicated that the members of her department had some discomfort in having to prosecute the case of a former minister (Jennifer Westford) and as a result of that…if the state’s prosecution department is saying that they don’t wish to prosecute these types of matters that are political, what was the state supposed to do, fiddle with its hands?” asked Williams.
He reminded that Guyana is a signatory to several international conventions against corruption and so it had no choice but to obtain special prosecutors. “So we decided as has been done by the previous governments in this country to select a team of lawyers who could do these prosecutions. It is nothing new.” The Attorney General reminded of the case of former treason accused Mark Benschop, in which former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, and attorney Sanjeev Datadin were granted fiats by the DPP to prosecute Benschop. They were special prosecutors and began prosecution during the preliminary inquiry.
‘WILD WEST’
“Neither man had under their belt any case …they were both inexperienced,” he added, noting that before he became an attorney, Senior Counsel Rex McKay, Doodnauth Singh and Bernard De Santos all served as special prosecutors. “Under the last regime the DPP used to give out fiats “wild west.” What is the noise they are making now …whenever this government attempts to do something in the interest of the Guyanese people… this case is protecting the assets of the Guyanese people. “
“It is puerile, just because they can do it… thank god this government affords them the opportunity to express themselves, everything they criticise us to say is wrong… everything we do is wrong. It is erroneous to contend that as a result the constitution is being breached.”
On October 30, Nandlall in an interview in another section of the media accused the government of usurping the functions of the DPP by hiring prosecutors. He said government’s move to have special prosecutors appointed in the two cases weakens the office of the DPP which is a constitutional body.
“It is not the function of an Executive Government to prosecute criminal offences. The prosecution of all criminal offences is vested by the Constitution in the office of the DPP, an independent office that the Constitution said must not be the subject of any influence of external authority, more particularly, political authority. Why is this office being bypassed?” Nandlall was quoted as saying, while arguing that there will be persecution and political witch-hunting and not prosecution.
However, Williams rejected the former Attorney General’s contention, dubbing it erroneous. He cited Article 144 of the Constitution of Guyana which guarantees that each citizen be provided a fair hearing within a reasonable time before an impartial tribunal.
“That is the yardstick…I don’t know where the lack of constitutionality comes in… when the government is forced to have to deal with the issue of the prosecution…” Williams asserted that in the court system there are rules and procedures and as such there is no room for jiggery pokery.
“The court will have a magistrate or judge, the person charged is entitled to a lawyer of his own choice…so where is the fear? Where is the wrongfulness for a special prosecutor ,somebody with the expertise to do the case going into a court room and has an impartial judge or magistrate presiding.”
The Attorney General questioned the motive behind Nandlall and social commentator Ramon Gaskin’s ranting on government’s decision. “How is it they are trying to tell us we cannot have an interest in ensuring that people have a fair hearing, when they are charged for stealing government’s assets?” he asked, while stressing that Guyana is not the only country in the Caribbean and moreover the Commonwealth that has opted to use special prosecutors.
“The government can’t appoint anybody to prosecute no case – the government has nominated people to get the fiat from the DPP to prosecute… If we were handpicking the judges and magistrates was a different matter,” the Attorney General said, as he disclosed that he too served as a special prosecutor in the past. “There is nothing wrong in the Government trying to protect the state’s assets and to ensure that they have reliable prosecutors, since the DPP’s staff had indicated that they were uncomfortable in prosecuting such cases.”
Williams described the former Attorney General as being malicious, while noting that he is misrepresenting the facts.” He is flip-flopping all the time,” said Williams who assured that “This thing is perfectly above board…every country has special prosecutors. The government has to pay these people. They are going into an arena where everything is balanced, nobody has a superior position. I don’t know what the issue is.”
Interested party
The current DPP, Shalimar Ali-Hack, is also a recipient of a houselot at Pradoville 2 and Williams said given that she is an interested party in the case, she will have to recuse herself as was done in the 2006 multi-million New Building Society (NBS) fraud investigation. Asked whether the DPP can refuse to grant fiat, the Attorney General said, should she do so, she would be required to provide reasons. “She has to show us what is different from when Nandlall got fiat… she has to show us what is unlawful about it.”
He noted that the DPP is not above the law and is required to uphold the rule of law. Social Commentator Gaskin said in another section of the press that the Constitution stipulates that the Executive is barred from getting involved in prosecutions and emphasised the need for Government’s decision to be challenged in the courts. But the Attorney General dismissed Gaskin’s claims, stating that he (Gaskin) is unfamiliar with the intricacies of the law. “He is not a lawyer, he has no experience in these matters, I don’t know on what basis he is talking… in our courts there are rules and procedures of evidence…” he stated.
Last week, Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary Joseph Harmon had announced that government has decided to seek special prosecutors following Cabinet’s examination of the forensic audits and noted indications of criminal culpability. Harmon said the reports are to be handed over to the Guyana Police Force for its initiation of criminal investigations. “The Special Prosecuting team would not be limited to just local personnel, it (would) have a wider sweep; and we are looking to bring persons who are capable of handling these matters. Yes, we are looking at the region in the first instance as well and then further[sic] afield,” the Minister of State told reporters.