MONTHS after Senior Magistrate, Fabayo Azore, called on former Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, to lead his defence in the trial for the alleged larceny of over $2M worth of law books from the Ministry of Legal Affairs, he is still to do so.

The former AG is on trial at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court for the alleged theft of the Lexis Nexis Law Reports of the Commonwealth that cost some $2M. The law reports are the property of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the charge contends.
When the matter was called on Thursday, Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) prosecutor, Patrice Henry, threatened to issue an arrest warrant for Nandlall on the grounds that he failed to show up in court.

Nandlall is being represented by Attorneys-at-Law Neil Boston, S.C, Glen Hanoman and Devindra Kissoon; however, they were not present in court.
Henry made an application for a notice to attend court to be sent to Nandlall which was granted by the magistrate. The prosecutor also signalled that if on the next occasion Nandlall does not appear in court, he will make an application for an arrest warrant to be issued for Nandlall. The matter was adjourned until June 28, 2019.

Attorney-at-law, Glen Hanoman, issued a statement on Friday, June 07, 2019 stating that his client and himself did not deliberately stay away from court that day. Both parties were always present in court for all hearings of the matter.

“It is also important that I make it clear that from the inception, this case was and is being heard in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court V, and the learned magistrate is currently assigned responsibilities in the East Demerara Magisterial District and only returns to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court V to deal with incomplete pending cases, including this case” Hanoman said.

The attorney said it was unfortunate that the prosecutor signalled his intent to resort to the recourse of seeking an arrest warrant for his client, although he had knowledge of both parties’ whereabouts.

Magistrate Azore now sits at the Vigilance and Cove and John Magistrate’s Court, but would normally return every Friday to tend to her ongoing trials at the City Court, one of which is Nandlall’s matter.

However, Magistrate Azore is currently attending training, and for the past few months was unable to sit on Fridays.