Former AG claims bias, wants Judge to recuse self from hearing libel case filed by Nandlall

Jan 21, 2021 News

Former AG: Basil Williams, S.C.

Justice Priya Sewnarine Beharry.

Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, S.C.

Kaieteur News – An application has been filed in the High Court by former Attorney General, Basil Williams, S.C., for Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry to be recused from a libel case brought against him by the current Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C. In this application, the former AG pointed to what he calls an apparent bias on the part of the Judge.
According to the document, the application is for a declaration that Justice Sewnarine-Beharry recuses herself from further hearing the matter filed by Nandlall on April 4, 2017.
Nandlall had filed for damages over libel and slander allegedly published by Williams at a press conference aired by the State-owned National Communications Network (NCN) to the effect that he would be charged for the missing law books, unaccounted for during his previous tenure as Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General.
He had been charged for allegedly stealing the books, but was later acquitted after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) directed that Magistrate Fabayo Azore discontinue the matter.
However, even before he was charged, Nandlall accused Williams of slander and sued for compensation to the tune of $125M over his alleged harmful statements made to the press.The matter, which is before the High Court, had several interlocutory hearings. At one point, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry had even dismissed the claim over a breach of procedural compliance in accordance with the new Civil Procedure Rules (CPRs). Nandlall appealed the decision to throw out the case to the Full Court and the matter was reinstated before Justice Sewnarine-Beharry.
According to the court documents, Williams in his defence filed in May 2017, denied that he had libeled or slandered Nandlall since he had spoken in the capacity of Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, who is tasked with being a custodian of State Assets with a duty to give transparent answers on his stewardship.
Williams submitted that Nandlall was in fact charged as he (Williams) had informed the press of the offence of larceny by bailee for the 14 missing law books.
In his application, the former AG noted that when the libel case came up before Justice Sewnarine-Beharry it was heard on diverse occasions since filing.
According to Williams, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry ordered that the libel trial be stayed until criminal proceedings in the Magistrates’ Court against Nandlall are completed.
He claimed too that she has been adjourning it from time to time until it came up for fixtures on January 15, 2021.
To this end, the former Attorney General contends that, the staying of the trial of the matter until criminal proceedings are over by Justice Sewnarine-Beharry raises the likelihood of bias on her part and a pre-determination of the issues raised in the application. Stated in the application is “that staying the matter until the criminal proceedings were determined, conveys that Justice Beharry attaches greater importance to the outcome of the charge rather than that the charge itself confirmed the Claimant’s [Nandlall] contention that I said he would be charged. The Claimant being charged with larceny of the missing law books established my defence of truth and fair comment on a matter of public interest.”
Further, in his application Williams pointed to an instance when his then attorney-at-law, Mr. Patrice Henry, appeared before Justice Sewnarine-Beharry, and she stated that should the criminal charges be dismissed, then the libel suit will be sustained and if Nandlall is convicted of the criminal offence then the libel suit will be dismissed.
Added to this, Williams claimed that the great disparity in the award of costs by Justice Sewnarine-Beharry to him as compared with the award to Nandlall raises concerns of the apparent bias.