THE Chamber of the Director of Public Prosecutions had taken roughly one year before it assigned state prosecutors to handle the case of multiple fraud charges against former Public Service Minister, Jennifer Westford and another senior officer of that ministry.And questions are being raised as to why the chamber did not represent the state against Carvil Duncan, who was freed of a larceny charge this week. In a statement on Friday the DPP denied that state prosecutors had expressed discomfort in taking on sensitive political cases being pursued by the current administration, although a top government official is insisting that they did. The official also said that the DPP chambers took almost one year after the Westford case started to assign state prosecutors to handle it. This was done according to sources after government had signaled its intention to employ special prosecutors.
Westford and her Personnel Manager Margaret Cummings were charged around July 2015, but it was only in August 2016 that state prosecutors were assigned to the case. The Guyana Chronicle in an August 5, 2016 article had reported on State Prosecutor Tashana Lake taking over the case from the police. Police Prosecutor Vishnu Hunt had revealed that he would be “washing his hands” of the matter, but would still be assisting the newly assigned prosecutor during the trial.
On Thursday Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, told this newspaper that government was forced into hiring special prosecutors for the Pradoville2 and the Guyana Cricket World Cup Inc scams owing to the fact that state prosecutors had expressed discomfort standing in those cases. “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.
Lack of prosecution
The DPP’s role has also come under scrutiny regarding the Carvil Duncan matter. Duncan was acquitted of a larceny charge involving the alleged theft of close to $1M from the Guyana Power and Light. Political activist and executive member of the Working People’s Alliance, Tacuma Ogunseye, in a letter appearing in the Stabroek News stated that the Duncan’s case raises a lot of questions. Ogunseye said the dismissal of the case on the grounds of insufficient evidence calls into question the seriousness of the state in bringing to justice alleged wrongdoers of the former regime. “Why after the case was studied and prosecution recommended, was a senior counsel not assigned to prosecute the case? Given the low level of legal competence of most police prosecutors and, fully aware that the prosecutor would have been opposed by one of the country’s leading lawyers, the authorities should not have identified that calibre of prosecutor to present the state’s case?” Ogunseye queried.
He said, “Reading the magistrate’s legal justification for throwing out the case, the poorly prepared case of the prosecution was highlighted. Some of the shortcomings are elementary matters, for example, the presentation of photocopied documents without any attempt being made to prove that an original existed and that the copy was a true representation of the original.” He said the prosecution also led no circumstantial evidence in relation to the bank statement showing that a sum had been debited from GPL’s account, so the court could only admit that it existed, not the truth of it.
Evidence
However, the DPP in a missive responding to an article in this newspaper on Friday stated that her office is governed by Article 187 of the Constitution of Guyana, adding that prosecutions will continue to be done fairly and impartially based solely on consideration of the evidence contained in the police’s file and the prevailing law. “Specifically, as it relates to the court matter involving former minister Jennifer Westford, the DPP herein informs that two lawyers from the DPP’s Chambers, Senior State Counsel Teshana Lake and State Counsel Natasha Backer are prosecuting this matter. Observers say both counsels have little experience in prosecuting high-profile cases.” Further, the DPP said neither of these two state lawyers has expressed any discomfort in the execution of their duties in the said matter. “The DPP, Mrs. Ali-Hack or any other lawyer in these Chambers have never indicated that they are uncomfortable in prosecuting any criminal matters, whether political or otherwise. The staff at the DPP’s Chambers examine the evidence in police files in relation to the prevailing law and advise charges accordingly; prosecutions are based on the evidence in the file and the law. This is so regardless of who the accused persons are and the positions they hold,” the DPP stated.
Additionally, the DPP said the present system is that lawyers at these Chambers appear in the High Court and all the Appellate Courts. “There are not sufficient lawyers to appear in the Magistrates’ Courts; hence, four police prosecutors are assigned to these Chambers and appear in the more serious cases in the Magistrates’ Courts. To say that State Prosecutors shun highly political cases is defamatory,” the statement added.
‘Wild-West ‘
Meanwhile, Williams had reminded in his interview with this newspaper that Guyana is a signatory to several international conventions against corruption and so it has no choice but to obtain special prosecutors in the Pradoville 2 case. “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. “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. “