AFC further defends Nigel Hughes’ Amaila links

Aug 09, 2013 News

---

By Abena Rockcliffe
Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes has indicated to the Alliance For Change (AFC) that in view of the party’s declination of his offer for resignation, he is going to “take some time out and more or less come back to them.”
Hughes’ move to tender his resignation as party chairman, was prompted by an article published in this newspaper’s August 6 edition titled “Nigel Hughes is Company Secretary for Amaila Falls Hydro Inc.”
And despite the AFC’s public renewal of “full confidence” in him, the prominent lawyer has opted to still take some time off the political scene. Hughes announced in a press release that he chose to resign so as to not smear the AFC’s name and drag it into a “scandal.”
Yesterday, AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan jumped on the defence as he aired his views on the series of events over the last few days as it relates to the issue at hand.
Ramjattan went as far as to refer to Kaieteur News as an enemy of the Amaila Falls project. The exact words he used in his referral were “the detractors.” ‘Detractors’, being the same word used in a statement by Sithe Global two days ago as it referred to Kaieteur News.
Asked if he is now against press freedom and the right to “expose,” questionable deals and projects, Ramjattan responded in the negative. He said however that he feels he has a right to an opinion and that his reference to this newspaper as a detractor is simply an expression of his opinion.
Ramjattan added that he would “fight to the death” for media rights and therefore, he hopes as well that his right to an opinion is respected.
“This thing about being Company Secretary for a company that largely hasn’t started doing any work is a thing we lawyers do all the time when an international company comes in,” the AFC Leader told a room filled with media operatives. He said that it incorporates, but  not certain if it will get “business”, the company would generally use the lawyer’s office as the registered place of business.
“They then go and plead who should we put up as a company secretary, and in very many cases you name, your legal clerk, or you do it yourself…and Nigel did indicate that he had a close association. When the company would have started business, they will get someone, probably from overseas, to be the company secretary, because then it will have to be full time…it is a norm in the legal practice.”
Ramjattan said it is “absolute nonsense to look over who will be our customers and clients.”
AFC Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo also sought to plea the case of the party to the media. He said that the AFC is a party of professionals and therefore “ought to exercise the caution necessary with regards to what we do as professionals and what we do as politicians.” He said there is a thin line between the two.
The politician said that the “Nigel Hughes factor, appears to be—at first glance—a contentious issue.
“We believe that we have not exercised the amount of responsiveness we should have initially when Nigel made the disclosure to us. It was perhaps his relationship with this client that didn’t require of us to do anything about his profession.  But as political operatives we ought to have been able to bring this to the public.”
Nagamootoo said that as Vice Chairman of the AFC he can say that what happened, and how it happened, was never the intention of the AFC. He sought to reassure however that neither Nigel nor Cathy Hughes has ever sought to inject themselves into discussions about the companies to which they have an affiliation.
Cathy Hughes was asked how she could wear two caps in Parliament as it relates to the Amaila issue.
She explained that she knows very well how to separate her professional life from her political responsibility.
“I am an individual. I have my personal views…My personal view on abortion might be different from AFC’s public position—which they arrive at after having a series of consultations with the members of the AFC, and based on a demarcation they may come up with a position.…When I speak in my personal capacity, I speak as Cathy Hughes who for all her life, has formed her own values and standards… In parliament I reflect the view of my political party which is not just arrived at in some haphazard manner but through a specific process. I am able to make a distinction.”
Hughes also took a jab at Kaieteur News as she accused the publication of falsely stating that efforts were made to contract her and her husband before publishing the article.
“They know how to contact me and my husband, and it is very strange that they didn’t get on to us then.”
She said that her cell phone number is public information but she noticed no call from Kaieteur News. “For Kaieteur News to say that they tried to contact us is most suspicions…no number from Kaieteur News or anybody from Kaieteur News.
After the press conference concluded a KN reporter’s phone was shown to Mrs. Hughes as confirmation that efforts were indeed made to contact her.

---

---