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Magistrate erred in law by dismissing misconduct charge against Winston Jordan – Attorney General
Kaieteur News- Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall on Tuesday said that Senior Magistrate Leron Daly erred in law when she dismissed the misconduct charge levelled against former Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
Jordan was freed of the charge alleging he misconduct himself in public office by selling State property way below market value to BK Marines Limited at a price that was grossly undervalued.
However, in a statement following the Magistrate’s decision, the Attorney General said that “The learned Magistrate predicated her ruling on a finding in law that as Minister of Finance
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC.
, Mr. Jordan was not a Public Officer, an important ingredient in the offence.”
Nandlall said too that based on inquiries made, he was informed that the learned Magistrate received from the State written submissions supported by judicial authorities, including, a written ruling delivered by the Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George SC in the matter of Winston Brassington and Dr. Ashni Singh v Munilal Persaud, Commissioner of Police, Ann McLennan, Chief Magistrate and Shalimar Ali-Hack, Director of Public Prosecutions 2018-HC-DEM-CIV-FDA-757.
The Attorney General argued that in the aforementioned case, Dr. Singh was charged with the identical offence regarding certain acts he performed while he was Minister of Finance and placed before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
“The validity of the charge w
Senior Magistrate Leron Daly
as challenged in the High Court on the identical ground, that is, as Minister of Finance, Dr. Singh was not a Public Officer for the purposes of the charge.
The matter was heard by Chief Justice George who, after hearing detailed submissions from both counsel for Dr. Singh and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), ruled that Dr. Singh may be charged with the offence of Misconduct in Public Office notwithstanding that he was a Minister. This ruling was delivered on November 18, 2020 and was never appealed. It remains the law on the issue,” Nandlall submitted in a statement issued to the media.
Further, the Attorney General reminded that first-year law students are taught that the doctrine of Stare Decisis, by virtue of which the decision of the High Court on a particular principle of law, is binding precedent on a Magistrate, to the extent that the Magistrate has no jurisdictional freedom to depart from that High Court’s decision.
“The two cases are almost identical in both issues of facts and law, and the decision of the learned Chief Justice in the Singh and Brassington case constitutes a binding precedent on the learned Magistrate.
Clearly, the learned Magistrate erred in law by refusing to follow the decision of the learned Chief Justice. Such an elementary egregious error has excited great public concern within a few hours and inevitably will shake the public confidence in the administration of justice. For to the public, it appears that they are different standards being applied to different persons by the administration of justice,” Nandlall said.
Jordan was freed of the misconduct charge which alleged that he sold a State asset valued over US$40M to a private company for which the State received a mere US $100,000.
- Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Roxane George SC, Senior Magistrate Leron Daly
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