CCJ dismisses application to block sitting of National Assembly

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has dismissed an application by lawyers for recalled MP, Charrandass Persaud, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram asking the Trinidad and Tobago -based regional court to block the sitting of the National Assembly tomorrow.

The CCJ made the pronouncement today.

The regional court stated that unless it reverses the decision of the Court of Appeal of Guyana dated the 22nd day of March 2019 which declared that the motion of No Confidence passed in the National Assembly on the 21st day of December 2018 was not validly passed, the status of the Government and the National Assembly of Guyana is unaffected by the result of the vote on the motion of No Confidence of the 21st day of December 2018 presently before it.

The CCJ said that it would be imprudent in the circumstances,”for this Court to take the most unusual step of restraining the National Assembly from sitting as urged by the Applicant.”

The move by attorneys for the applicants was described by legal luminaries as inviting the regional court to breach the doctrine of separations of powers.

On Wednesday, during a pretrial hearing on the three appeals challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal, Attorney  for Persaud, Sanjeev Datadin made an oral submission to the CCJ to block the Friday April 26 Sitting of the National Assembly.

While the National Assembly is expected to consider the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) (Tax Laws) (Tullow Guyana B.v. Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc. and Total E and P Guyana BV) Order, there is no legislation related to finances that would be considered on Friday.

There are, however, several reports, on past contractual arrangements, and reports on a number of Government entities.

Additionally, six bills will be introduced and read for the first time. These bills are: Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, Procurement (Amendment) Bill, Customs and Trade Single Window System Bill, Custom (Amendment of Schedules) Bill, National Accreditation Council (Amendment) Bill and National Accreditation Council Act 2004 (Validation) Bill.

Earlier Attorney General and Legal Affairs Ministers, Basil Williams told this publication that Datadin was attempting to mislead the court into believing that the National Assembly on Friday would consider finances for the conduct of General and Regional Elections by the Guyana Elections Commission.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams

On the sideline of an engagement with diplomats from the UK and the US at his Chamber, Minister Williams told reporters that Datadin was attempting to “influence the court.”

“This is a blatant attempt to influence the court and maligned the government and I don’t know why these attempts are being made to influence the court,” the Attorney General said.

He said the CCJ is a competent legal institution, and the Government, unlike Datadin, does not get involved in such acts. “We leave the court because we believe that they have competent people who are qualified to administer justice as our final court,” the Attorney General said.

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