As the police begin a criminal probe into allegations that Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall threatened the lives of the owner of the Kaieteur Newspaper and his staff, the parliamentary opposition yesterday called for the AG to step down.
APNU wants this move to be made in the interim to facilitate a transparent probe while the Alliance For Change (AFC) feels it should be a permanent move as what was said on a recorded telephone conversation reportedly between Nandlall and senior KN reporter Leonard Gildarie is enough evidence.
Meanwhile, GINA reported last evening that Nandlall has slapped KN with a $30M lawsuit for libel contained in an article published onOctober 28th titled `Attorney General reveals plan to hit Glenn Lall, Kaieteur News’.
GINA said that the civil action filed in the High Court yesterday has named the proprietor of Kaieteur News, Mohan ‘Glenn’ Lall and editor, Adam Harris as the defendants.
The AG is seeking damages in excess of $10M for alleged libel contained in the headline, $10M for the alleged libel contained in the article and aggravated/exemplary damages in the sum of $10M.
Revelations of the content of the recording have taken the press by storm, with many condemning the threats made even as government focused their attention on how the recording was obtained and levelled allegations that its content was distorted. KN proprietor Glenn Lall made an official police complaint about the matter on Monday at police headquarters, Eve Leary and also handed over a copy of the 19-minute recording.
In the recording, a voice purporting to be the AG’s is heard saying that Lall “feels that he is above the law” and has resorted to using the daily newspaper “as a weapon.”
“Everybody doesn’t have a newspaper to use as a weapon,” Nandlall said. He continued, “I told Adam [Adam Harris, KN editor], I said, ‘Adam, people got weapons, right. They ain’t got newspaper to use as a weapon; they got weapons. And when you continue to attack people like that and they have no way of responding they will just walk with they weapon into that same [expletive] Saffon Street office and wha’ come shall do.”
He then continued, “And innocent…” before changing course and continuing, “Peter will have to pay for [expletive] Paul in that way. I tell you, honestly, man to man that will happen soon.” He further advised the reporter to “get out of deh,” the quicker, the better.
It is widely believed that an unfavourable article on Nandlall’s uncle Kamal Mangal who is a remigrant sparked most of what was said in the recording. Mangal has since obtained an interim injunction against Harris, Lall and the Kaieteur News.
Stabroek News was unable to reach Nandlall for a comment but was told that he is presently seeking legal advice on the issue.
In a Facebook post yesterday morning he said “We live in tragic times. When the sanctity of privacy is removed from communications between humans, the human element is removed from human relations and thereafter, man’s status is reduced to that of animals”.
The Attorney General wrote that “it’s even worse when those communications are manipulated and distorted, by technology I suppose, to create a dialogue which is radically different from what occurred -all done by those who wield the power of the press and use the same to persecute and slaughter the character of others. A society in such state borders on anarchy”.
He stated that no one is truly exempt or is truly safe in such a situation “unless they grovel with indignity before those who wield the power to which I have made reference. For in their minds, they are above the law and everything and anyone else. Anyone who tries to apply to them the norms of civilized society and the rule of law, exposes himself and his family to the brutality of their attacks. I will not succumb to cowardice. I am simply not genetically configured that way. History will absolve me. Good always triumphs over evil”.
In a letter to KN back in 2006, Nandlall who was then a practising attorney at law had said “I respectfully submit that, even if the law afforded a right to privacy in Guyana, having regard to the nature of the matters contained in the recorded conversation, and the status and standing of the persons allegedly engaged in that conversation, that right to privacy would have had to bend and bow to the constitutional right to free expression. This has been submitted so that the lay public is not misled on vital matters of law”. Nandlall at the time was responding to the public outcry over the release of a recorded conversation believed to be between the (then) Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix and PNCR Vice Chairman and Parlia-mentarian Basil Williams. The recording which was aired and published in several sections of the media contained startling and disturbing content.
Hopeful that justice will be severed
Meanwhile, Lall in an invited comment said that yesterday the police visited him and requested a further statement. At the time this newspaper spoke to him, he said that he has made a commitment to comply with the request before the end of the day.
He said he is unsure if the investigators have since made contact with Nandlall. “I didn’t ask and they didn’t tell”, he said.
In addressing how the recording was obtained, Lall said that as the publisher of KN most of his senior reporters are given equipment that goes with their jobs. “Most of the reporters have equipment that has the capability of taping all incoming and outgoing calls”, he said.
Asked to comment on claims that the conversation was recorded unknowing to Nandlall, Lall responded “maybe Nandlall and who did not listen to the tape should listen back to the tape and they will hear the reporter (Gildarie) telling him that it is being recorded and the reporter even telling him, man you don’t know we have smart phone and he himself said don’t worry Glen Lall don’t have them kinda equipment duh”.
Lall stated that the conversation took place on Saturday evening and he was informed of the contents shortly after the call had ended. He said that when the issue was brought to his attention, he immediately concluded that it was a matter that needed to be reported to the police and his attorneys.
Told that there are reports that he was in the habit of recording his reporters’ telephone conversations, Lall in response said “oh no, come on, nobody does things like that. Why would anybody do something like that? Not even a man with an ounce of brain would do things like that. Why would you, what interest does that serve? It doesn’t serve anybody’s interest to listen to my employees’ conversations. That is not in our book”.
Asked whether given Nandlall’s high ranking status in the government if he is confident that the investigation will be transparent and fair, he said “I will like to think so and I can only hope so. At least the international bodies are looking…” He said that this is not the first time he is being threatened by a member of the government. He said that he knew of a plot to kill him being hatched and it was as a result of this that he started carrying a slogan at the bottom of the front page of his newspaper stating that efforts are afoot to shut his business down. According to Lall, “I did not want the public to know that my life is in danger but I knew all along”. He said that in the statement he handed out to the police on Monday, he included that one of the hired killers informed him of what was being planned. He insisted that the target is him and not his employees and added that two weeks ago he had made a report to the Ruimveldt Police Station that threats were being made to his life. He could not provide an update on what the police have done with respect to his report.
“I hope I get justice”, he stressed.
There have been reports that Gildarie was suspended sometime on Monday. Asked about this, Lall confirmed the suspension stating that this action was taken because Gildarie was “rude and disrespectful to him”
When contacted, Gildarie said that based on legal advice he could not comment on the issue and he referred all questions to the newspapers’ management.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) was asked by Stabroek News whether it was at all concerned about how the recording was made or obtained particularly if the AG was not aware that he was being recorded. The response was “The Press Association is very concerned about the safety of journalists and media workers. As the Association has always said, journalists and media workers should be operating in an environment which is free from fear and intimidation. The GPA is unaware of how the recording may have been obtained by the newspaper but is very worried about its contents. Other media houses and the GPA were only made aware of its contents after it was presented to the Police and a police complaint filed”.
The GPA stressed that it will not only continue to follow the issue closely but will continue to issue calls for a full and thorough police investigation into the complaint filed. “Our international media partners have been informed of the development”, the Association told this newspaper.
Disrepute
The AFC yesterday said that Monday’s revelations have brought the AG’s office into disrepute and to avoid further embarrassment Nandlall should resign from his post.
In a press release the party said that it “is shocked beyond disbelief at the recent revelations of conversations between a Kaieteur News reporter and the Attorney General”. It was stated that the transcript of the conversation which the AG has most recently admitted as having said, highlights that he has proven himself “wholly unfit to hold the office of Attorney General of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana”.
The party called on President Donald Ramotar to demand the immediate resignation of Nandlall “as his failure to act swiftly on this issue would be an endorsement of such behaviour by persons who represent our country at the highest level in Guyana and internationally”.
The release stated that it is now clear to the party, civil society organizations and the citizens of Guyana that they cannot continue to do business with this Government if it holds persons like Nandlall as their representative. “Only his immediate resignation could save this country the embarrassment of having one of its highest offices brought further into disrepute and disgrace”, the party stressed.
It was noted that in the audio recording released to the public, Nandlall states that he has intimate knowledge of an imminent attack on Kaieteur News in which the lives of the staff will be endangered. “This is a very dangerous state of affairs and must be taken seriously. As a leading figure in the system of law and order and an officer of the court, the Attorney General knows he has an obligation to inform the relevant authorities of an impending crime”…, the release said.
It is in this light, the party said that it is issuing a call to Nandlall to share whatever knowledge he has adding that it is the AFC’s position that Nandlall issued veiled threats against the media house when he spoke of not engaging a “Kshatriya’ in war and pointing to a “change in tempo” after Kaieteur News started linking him to the re-migrant duty-free scam.
“The AFC is alarmed at Mr. Nandlall’s derogatory, disrespectful and totally unacceptable sexual comments in the conversation towards a female reporter in the conduct of her duties as a journalist and representative of the media”, the AFC said.
According to the party, the level of language filled with expletives, threats, hints of having knowledge of an impending serious crime and willingness to promote and encourage loose sexual behaviour are “indictments against Anil Nandlall and enough reason why he should be removed from office and cannot stand as a role model for young Guyanese. The Alliance For Change is calling on the President to relieve the Attorney General from his position immediately so that the integrity of the Office of Attorney General can be restored”.
Opposition Leader David Granger when contacted said that he did not want to comment on what was published in the press but would call for the allegation which is a very serious one to be subjected to a proper investigation.
He also called on the president to have an independent investigation done given the seriousness of the matter and the fact that it involves a government minister.
Granger noted that in the interim the AG should be sent on leave to facilitate the probe, adding that once it is felt that Nandlall was in the wrong then the “president should take action to relieve him of his duties”. He stressed that it is a very serious allegation that should not be taken lightly.
The recording also suggested that recent charges against Lall and his wife, Bhena in the remigration scam had been the subject of discussion between President Donald Ramotar and Bhena Lall.
