Georgetown: Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said of all the hundreds of cases that the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) has in their care and the billions of dollars the APNU/AFC government has accused People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s Members of stealing it appears that a major case for the unit is dealing with Anil Nandlall ownership of a few law books.
Jagdeo had call a press conference at Freedom House after Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall was Monday morning called in by ranks of the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) to give a statement at their Camp Street office pertaining to missing law books from the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
In attendance at the press conference were PPP/C Members of Parliament, Former Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall and Former Education Minister Priya Manickchand.
“They probably don’t even have a mandate to investigate this issue, these law books can be purchased for GUY$400,000 and this has become a big act of corruption that this government is pursuing when they had claims that PPP members stole over $305 Billion,” Jagdeo said “But the timing of the issue is important since SOCU seems to be operating under the direction of some Ministers of the Government.”
Jagdeo noted that SOCU doesn’t appear to be going after money launders, drug trafficker or serious financial crimes, but seems fascinated with inconsequential matters involving the PPP.
Jagdeo said he had urged the government over a year ago to hire an international firm to track down large sums of monies that they claimed PPP stashed away in accounts overseas as the government had claimed. However, this was never done.
Noting the motive for SOCU summoning Nandlall to their Camp Street Office, Jagdeo said after the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams disrespected High Court Judge, Justice Franklin Holder which was exposed by Nandlall, Minister Williams decided to be spiteful using the arms of the state to intimidate Nandlall.
Jagdeo said Minister Williams is a poor choice for the office of Minister of Legal Affairs and this can be judged by his track record in office.
“Immediate after he was exposed, rather than dealing with the substance of his threat to the High Court Judge, Williams gives an explanation that not even a child would find credible,” the opposition leader said.
Jagdeo said the issue of the law books is two years old and only now there seems to be an urgency when Minister Williams is in the hot seat.
Back in November 2015, the then Permanent Secretary of the Legal Affairs Ministry, Indira Ananjit, was sent on 52 days leave after the law books, reportedly valued $2.5 million, were found missing. This caused an audit to be launched by the Auditor General’s office to locate the books.
Nandlall had claimed that on several occasions in the past; Williams, both in jest and seriousness, indicated “that if I continue to criticise him, publicly, he will make the issue of these books, public, obviously, in an attempt to embarrass me.”
He had continued that “unfazed by such infantile intimidation, on each occasion, I told him to proceed, since I will never compromise my duty to the people of Guyana to criticise and expose executive conduct which warrant criticisms and exposure.”
Nandlall explained that when he was appointed Attorney General, he requested as part of his contract of service for the Government of Guyana to stand the expense for his subscriptions for the Commonwealth Law Books. He had subscribed to Lexis Nexis, the publishers of the Law reports.
“I was subscribing to this particular law report over a decade before my appointment as Attorney General. When I was offered the position, one of the conditions I asked for is for the Government of Guyana to continue to pay the subscription of these books, because I did not want to break the subscription,” Nandlall had pointed out.
Insisting that nothing was abnormal about the practice, the former AG had argued that it was done by other Government Ministries such as Finance and Health.
He had expressed awareness that for decades prior, the Government had paid for professional and technical publications, journals, periodicals, magazines. This, he said, had been done for Ministers as well as professional and technical personnel.
When asked if he would repay for the books, Nandlall said then when he told investigators that he is willing to buy an entire set and donate it to the Ministry, however, the investigator related that the return of the law books was not the issue, he was.
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