(Trinidad Express) Lawrence Duprey and Andre Monteil, the two main players in CL Financial, will both have to testify at the ongoing commission of enquiry into the conglomerate’s failure, Sir Anthony Colman ordered on Thursday.
The duo, once described during the enquiry as “Batman and Robin” for their tag team approach to final transactions, have been ordered to appear next week Tuesday.
Colman, the enquiry’s lone commissioner, made the order yesterday following a submission made by junior counsel to the commission Gerald Ramdeen.
Ramdeen called on Colman to exercise his power under Section 11 of the Commissions of Enquiry Act to “compel the attendance” of Duprey and Monteil by the issuing summonses to both men.
Section 11 of the Commissions of Enquiry Act gives the commissioner “powers of the High Court to summon witnesses”.
According to Section 12 (3) of the Commissions of Enquiry Act “any person who refuses or fails, without sufficient cause, to attend at the time and place mentioned in the summons served on him” is liable on summary conviction to a fine of TT$2,000.
Making his submission yesterday Ramdeen told Colman that Duprey and Monteil have “both participated in the proceedings before this commission from inception” and that both men “have taken full advantage during that time for cross examining witnesses who have been good enough to attend” the enquiry.
Ramdeen said after 24 months, Duprey’s attorney wrote the commission on January 22, and signalled his intention to withdraw from the enquiry.
The “most difficult of decisions” was made following the failed attempt on December 3, last year by British Queen’s Counsel Edward Jenkins to have the enquiry discontinued in public on behalf of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard in light of ongoing criminal investigations.
