FORMER Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has turned to the High Court to secure a Conservatory Order to prevent the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) from seizing some 15 Commonwealth Law Reports paid for by the state.
Nandlall made the application one day after he was arrested and questioned over some $2.5M worth of law reports which he had taken away from the Ministry of Legal Affairs in 2015, allegedly with the permission of former President Donald Ramotar. Former Legal Affairs Ministry Permanent Secretary Melissa Tucker said the purported agreement between the former Attorney General and former President circumvents the procedural accountability of the Budget Agency that is governed by the Stores Regulations 1993 and the FMAA 2003.

Tucker had made the comments in her response to the Auditor General’s findings into the disappearance of the law books. The Auditor General in his conclusion had said that the Commonwealth Law Books acquired by the ministry were not subject to storekeeping procedures and were not required, since they were part of his condition of service. However, Tucker made it clear that the ministry was never privy to any condition of service for Nandlall, which included the purchase of law reports.

She added that the purchase of the law books, using public funds for Nandlall’s personal use, was, “A flagrant misuse of public funds. Property bought with public funds by the ministry ought to remain the property of the ministry,” Tucker stated. She said, “The ministry feels compelled to remind you [Auditor General] that according to the FMAA: “Public money means all money belonging to the State, received or collected by officials in their capacity or by any person authorised to receive or collect such money.” In addition, Tucker stated that Section 48 of the FMAA, which speaks of the misuse of public funds, provides that: “A minister or official shall not in any manner misuse, misapply, or improperly dispose of public money.”

In his court document filed on Tuesday,Nandlall argued that he was the owner of the 14 Commonwealth Law Reports for the years 2013 to May 2015, noting that they were acquired during his tenure as Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister as a condition of his service. He had been subscribing to Lexis Nexis (UK) the publishers of the Commonwealth Law Reports since 2003.
Nandlall said he was informed by officers of SOCU that it was their intention to raid his home to seize and detain the said Commonwealth Law Reports.

“The applicant has been given no prior notice by the officers, servants and or agents of the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) or any other investigative arm of the State of Guyana of its intention to either investigate the applicant in respect of the said Commonwealth Law Reports, or the seizure, detention and/ or confiscation thereof,” the former Attorney General stated.

To build his case, Nandlall provided the court with a letter dated December 1, 2015 by former President Ramotar to the Auditor General indicating that he had granted the then AG permission to take the reports. “It was agreed that the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Legal Affairs, will assume and continue the payment of certain subscriptions for Mr. Mohabir Anil Nandlall, for professional books and journals, which were in existence prior to his appointment,” a section of the letter stated. Nandlall has reportedly secured a Conservatory Order from Chief Justice Roxanne George to temporarily block SOCU or the police from seizing the reports.