Sanjeev Datadin under fire for appointment in Sir Ron Sanders case

Jan 07, 2012 News

St John’s, Antigua – The appointment of Sanjeev Datadin, a Guyanese attorney with strong ties

Attorney Sanjeev Datadin and Senior Attorney Anthony Astaphan

to the government, as special constable working along with the team of investigators in the IHI fraud investigation has been met with strong opposition in some quarters.
Senior Attorney Anthony Astaphan, who has represented the opposition Antigua Labour Party in several cases, described the appointment as nothing short of outrageous.
Speaking on Observer Radio, the Queen’s Counsel said Datadin’s appointment represents a serious conflict of interest. “What they have decided to do is to subvert the position of Director of Public Prosecution with the appointment of a lawyer dressed up in the cloth of special constable, with powers of arrest,” he said.
Astaphan said a fundamental conflict arises when the person who should independently and impartially review the evidence and decide whether or not an arrest should be made is also given the powers of arrest.
“I don’t care how ‘holier than thou’ that person is, how clean he may be, or how professional, this is an absolute outrage,” he said.
Datadin has appeared as the lead counsel before the Tribunal probing the conduct of three members of the Electoral Commission and as attorney for Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer in a number of cases.
Astaphan said the people of the country should demand that someone impartial be asked to investigate or prosecute matters related to the Antigua Labour Party.
He feels that the Guyanese attorney’s past association with the government rules him out of consideration for this task.
But Datadin was undeterred by Astaphan’s comments. He said he has never worked for the government of Antigua and Barbuda, and that it is not fair for anyone to say so.
“I was counsel for the Tribunal, and I was also retained as counsel in the matter where Lester Bird sued Baldwin Spencer for slander,” he said. “I have also appeared in the matter as counsel for the Prime Minister in the case where Sir Gerald Watt named Mr Spencer in a suit. But these are all civil matters. I am not part of the government, nor do I represent the government. The attorney general is that person.”
He said attorneys appear for different clients from time to time, and that the only occasion when a conflict arises is where an attorney appears for someone, yet works against his interest in another matter.
Former Police Commissioner Rawlston Pompey also weighed in on the issue. He said previously, when special constables were appointed, this followed official requests to law enforcement agencies with whom the local police force had an arrangement.
“You will recall the most recent case where special constables were engaged was after the government requested the assistance of Scotland Yard in the Mullany murder investigation,” he said. “We have only requested technical assistance from active professionally trained law enforcement personnel to serve as special constables, and this decision should be made by the commissioner of police advising the government.”
According to Pompey, the agencies from which assistance has been requested have been the RCMP of Canada, the FBI of the United States and Scotland Yard of Britain.
“I can’t recall of a case where an attorney is sworn in as a special constable. It is not something that I would recommend,” he said.