Latest update November 8th, 2024 1:00 AM
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Nandlall trial delayed
-as court grants time to defence counsel to review case file
The commencement of trial of former Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, who is accused of stealing $2M in LexisNexis Law Reports of the Commonwealth belonging to the Ministry of Legal Affairs, has been put off until June 20, as a
Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall
result of the court granting time to two Attorneys-at-Law to review the case file. The trial was scheduled to commence yesterday.
City Magistrate Fabayo Azore granted another adjournment date upon request of Attorney-at-Law Devindra Kissoon, who disclosed that he and Senior Counsel Neil Boston were only retained on Wednesday, and that they needed additional time to review the case file in relation to the matter.
The other Attorneys include Murseline Bacchus, Bibi Shaddick, Odai Ramischand, Priya Manickchand, Adrian Anamayah, Euclin Gomes, Sase Gunraj, Manoj Narayan, C.V Satram, L. Mark Conway, Sasha S. Mahadeo-Narayan, Rajendra R. Jaigobin and Glenn Hanoman.
Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) prosecutor, Patrice Henry was however ready to proceed with trial having two witnesses ready to testify.
Before the new trial date was set, Attorney Hanoman disclosed that the prosecution did not serve all statements on the defence, and argued that it is prejudicial.
There was a bit of disagreement between the battery of lawyers and the prosecutor in setting a date for trial, after some of the lawyers claimed they had matters fixed in other courts on the dates proposed by the court. In one instance, the prosecutor disclosed that he has a matter before the High Court on a date suggested by the Magistrate. Nevertheless, the Magistrate fixed June 20, and affirmed that the trial will commence then.
The former AG has been released on self-bail.
According to Nandlall, when he took up the post as AG he did so at a loss, and it was for that reason he agitated for the state to pay for the Law Reports. He had said that the arrangement received the blessings of then-Head of State Donald Ramotar.
However, investigators are contending that because the books were bought with state funds they cannot be the property of Nandlall, and in fact, the state should not have entered into such an arrangement in the first place.
The Ministry of Legal Affairs is contending that there is no evidence of the agreement between Nandlall and Ramotar, and even assuming that there was such an agreement, the use of public funds in this manner is a flagrant violation of the Financial Management and Accountability Act (FMAA).
It was only recently that Nandlall sued Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams for $125M for what he saw as libelous and slanderous claims in relation to the said Law Reports; he also secured a Conservatory Order from the Supreme Court, preventing SOCU from seizing the Law Reports.
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