House approves Bill to abandon Preliminary Inquiry

Jul 10, 2024 News

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC

Kaieteur News – On Monday evening, the National Assembly approved the Criminal Law Procedure (Paper Committals) Bill 2024, which will abolish the traditional lengthy preliminary inquiries (PIs).

The Bill provides for the elimination of PIs and the substitution thereof with paper committals, which involves reviewing the evidence and arguments presented by both the prosecution and the defence in written form, rather than conducting an in-person hearing.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, who presented the Bill remarked, “This Bill aims to completely eliminate traditional oral preliminary inquiries in Guyana.”

The enactment of the Bill is anticipated to bring significant changes to Guyana’s legal system. The Attorney General’s Chambers drafted the Bill with the aim of making the criminal justice system more efficient. Under the new system, the magistrate will review the written submissions and make a determination based on the available evidence. The paper committal process saves time and resources by eliminating the need for witness testimony and cross-examination during the preliminary inquiry stage. This will inevitably save judicial time, reduce the backlog of criminal cases and reduce the prison population on remand.

In his address, Nandlall explained that the Bill replaces the conventional PIs with a paper committal system which is deemed more efficient as it involves reviewing evidence and arguments submitted in written form from both sides, without the necessity of witnesses attending court to give testimonies.

In the Magistrate’s Court, PIs for serious offenses like murder can extend to three to four years. During this time, the state bears the cost while the accused remains on remand until they are either committed to stand trial before a judge and jury or the case is discharged.

The paper committal will shorten that time bringing more efficiency to the judiciary.

“The main purpose of this Bill is to bring efficiency, proficiency [and] expediency…We have laboured with what is now clearly an outmoded process for nearly six decades… I don’t think that anyone can argue that the time for paper committal is [not] long overdue,” the Attorney General said.

Nandlall underscore that the Bill will bring Guyana on par with jurisdictions across the Caribbean and the Commonwealth that have already abolished the use of preliminary inquiry.

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Anil Nandlall, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Criminal Law Procedure (Paper Committals) Bill 2024, National Assembly, SC

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