(Trinidad Guardian) Legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar is being asked to refund more than TT$300,000 in legal fees to a client he represented at the Chaguanas Magistrates’ Court two years ago. The client has so far spent TT$800,000 in lawyer fees, TT$400,000 of which was paid to Ramadhar, political leader of the Congress of the People (COP) for legal representation at a preliminary inquiry. He has since filed a complaint against Ramadhar with the Disciplinary Commit-tee at the Ministry of Justice.
The client, a businessman, is jointly charged with three others for a December 2009 murder. Last year, the men were committed to stand trial following paper committal proceedings. The complaint was lodged last week by the man’s wife at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain. Sources said letters were written to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, former Law Association president Dana Seetahal SC, permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Reynold Cooper, the Ministry of Justice, Ramadhar and the man’s other attorney, Jagdeo Singh.
In letters dated July 7, 2011, and July 29, 2012, addressed to Persad-Bissessar, Ramadhar’s former client asked the Prime Minster to intervene in the matter. Reference was made to a letter dated May 31, 2011, and addressed to Ramadhar, which requested a refund of monies for legal services that were not provided due to his “entry in the election campaign.”
