Attorney General Anil Nandlall says that the objection by main opposition APNU over the appointment of two lawyers associated with his law firm as legal counsel to the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the Linden protester shootings is without merit.
APNU yesterday warned that the presence of Euclin Gomes and Ganesh Hira can create a bias that can affect the evidence that goes before the commission. “What you have now is a filter between the citizens and the commission itself and that filter is those two attorneys that have been placed there. We do not want any filter of that nature that can be tainted by a certain level of bias that could affect what comes before the commission,” APNU MP Joseph Harmon told reporters during a press conference at the party’s headquarters.
Asked about an advertisement, published yesterday in the Kaieteur News, calling for witnesses to submit statements, Harmon again expressed his displeasure at the two attorneys named as counsel for the CIO.
He said the party believes the commission is taking too long to respond to its concerns, while noting that there are other attorneys who are willing and able to conduct the same work.
“People are willing and available but it is just the connection of these two attorneys to Nandlall’s office that we have a problem with,” he noted.
Asked if there was concern that work of the two counsel will affect the commission’s final report, Harmon said that Chairman and former Chief Justice of Jamaica Lensley Wolfe had said that the finding of the commission would be based on evidence. “If you have information coming to it that is not complete, the commission can only rule on what it has before it. That is why Wolfe said that this would be an evidence-based inquiry. What comes before the commission is what we are concerned about and we want to ensure that there is no unnecessary filter as to what comes before the commission,” he said.
At the beginning of the press conference, APNU MP James Bond, who is also an attorney, stated, “We are confident that attorneys from APNU and other political parties who are interested can and will provide legal services to [Linden] pending the response from the (COI) chairman. As we speak, Basil Williams and other officials are in Linden doing legal work.”
Nandlall, while not denying the lawyers’ association to his firm, told Stabroek News that the two lawyers are professionals and are expected to discharge their functions in a professional manner, with due regard to their responsibilities.
He said the lawyers are not adjudicators and therefore the objection raised by Harmon is “without merit and therefore should be rejected.” He stressed that the duo can in no way influence the process and he would ignore the objection to their presence, adding that is “all I have to say on this.”
Quizzed on the process through which the lawyers were selected, Nandlall explained that the government was charged with the responsibility of staffing the COI. He admitted that they were named as counsel to the COI by the government.
Stabroek News was informed that the duties of the duo will include providing legal assistance to witnesses and doing research for the commission.
Sensitive
Harmon said he is yet to get a response from the commission on what he described as his concerns over a very sensitive matter. He said that earlier, COI Secretary, Ronald Burch-Smith, informed him via telephone that the foreign-based commissioners are out of the country and would be informed of his objection via electronic mail. According to Harmon, Burch-Smith said that he is now awaiting a response.
He said it is wrong for two persons from the AG’s firm to be appointed as the counsel. He said he is giving the commission a two-day deadline (starting yesterday) to respond to his request, failing which “I will instruct the people of Linden”.
Harmon pointed out to Stabroek News that his objection should be taken seriously as this is a situation where junior lawyers with little experience have been tasked with a very important assignment.
Asked what he would like to see, Harmon said, “we need to get people who are objective and who are not linked to one chamber”. He noted that the AG is the government official who played a role in the determination of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the COI, who was involved in the selection of the commissioners and who named the local commissioners. “He has too heavy a hand in this matter,” he said of Nandlall.
In a letter to the commission, dated September 6 2012, the same day that the two attorneys appeared at a press conference with the commissioners, Harmon formally registered the coalition’s disenchantment with the two.
The letter, which was released by APNU, stated that it was a known fact that Gomes is attached to the Chamber of Nandlall and Associates and that Hira uses the said address for his legal matters.
“A Partnership for National Unity finds it unacceptable for an inquiry of this nature, where a term of reference requires the commission to pronounce on the involvement of the Minister of Home Affairs in the event being inquired into, that persons so closely connected to the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs will have such a pivotal role in the work of the Commission of Inquiry.
“We urge that the commission engages in a wider process of advertisement and consultation in the legal community before these appointment(s) are made,” he letter stated.
The COI into the shooting, which left three Lindens dead and up to 20 others injured after police opened fire on protestors near the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge on July 18 is expected to begin later this month. Lindeners were protesting over the increase in electricity tariffs.
Based on the information reaching this newspaper, its start is being delayed due to the fact that commissioner-designate Cecil Kennard, a former Chancellor of the Judiciary, is out of the country on vacation. He is expected back in the country shortly. The other commissioners, Wolfe and Senior Counsel KD Knight, both of Jamaica, Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal of Trinidad and Tobago and Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh, were sworn in by the president during a simple ceremony last week.
Local engineer Hugh Denbow has been named as the administrator for the COI.
Specifically, the inquiry will look at which unit was deployed at the scene at the bridge and what was its composition and at its training, individually and collectively, in preparation for the crowd control operation. It will also determine whether the fatal shootings were committed by the police deployed on the bridge and, if so, who gave the order to fire and whether the police had justification for the use of lethal force at the scene.
The instructions given to the detachment as well any instructions that may have been given by the Home Affairs Minister to the police force to maintain law and order in Linden immediately before, during and immediately after the events on July 18, form part of the terms of the inquiry as well.
Apart from the shooting, the commission’s mandate includes inquiring into the nature of the violence and destruction and its perpetrators that immediately followed the July 18 shooting. Further, it is to make recommendations to assist the police in “effectively and professionally discharging their responsibilities for the maintenance of law and order” in Linden and other communities without endangering their own safety and that of innocent persons. They also include making recommendations for compensation where necessary for injury, loss or damage as a consequence of the events of that day.
