THE trial against former Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall in relation to the larceny of over $2 million worth of law books from the Ministry of Legal Affairs on Tuesday (June 20, 2017),has commenced.
Prosecutor for the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Patrice Henry, called two witnesses to the stand to testify before city magistrate Fabayo Azore. Nandlall is represented by Attorney-at-Law Neil Boston, S.C, Glen Hanoman and Devindra Kissoon.

The two witnesses are: Janise Joe, former Stores Clerk at the Ministry of Legal Affairs (1999-2014) and Daniel Persaud, an accounts clerk at the said ministry. Persaud, during cross-examination by attorney Hanoman, explained that during December 2014– January 2015, he also performed duties as stores clerk.
The witness further explained that during his tenure as a stores clerk, the only law reports he is aware of are those he received after Nandlall demitted office as Attorney General in 2015. He further recalled that on June 2, 2015, he was summoned with the Immediate User Book to the office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

Persaud recalled that the permanent secretary had the Commonwealth Law Reports in her possession and he made entries of them in the Immediate User Book with the description of the items, amount and the serial numbers. According to the witness after taking the entries, he took the Law Reports to the library at the Ministry of Legal Affairs and handed them over to the librarian, Lana Bess.
The other witness, Janise Joe, explained that she resigned as stores clerk at the Ministry of Legal Affairs in 2014. She told the court that she never handled the law reports and that they never passed through the ministry’s stores. The matter is adjourned until July 14.
On April 27, Nandlall was charged with Larceny by Bailee in connection with a number of law books he took from the Ministry of Legal Affairs, which he said was given to him by former President, Donald Ramotar, during his tenure in office.

The former AG is alleged to have fraudulently converted 14 Commonwealth Law Reports valued at GY$2.3 million to his own use, as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs. He was released on self-bail by Magistrate Azore. Over the last two years, Nandlall has repeatedly confirmed that while he was AG, the law books were purchased for him by the state with approval by former president Ramotar. Nandlall had explained that the law books are in his possession and he has no intention of returning them to the State. He subsequently secured an order in the High Court which bars the police from seizing the books.