The police yesterday insisted that Kaieteur News publisher Glenn Lall present himself to the Brickdam Police Station to clarify his complaint against Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall but he has not yet done so.
Lall believes that his complaint that Nandlall threatened the newspaper and its staff is not being taken seriously by the police.
“These people deh pon joke. They taking serious business and this is big joke,” Lall told Stabroek News yesterday.
On Monday, Lall visited Police Headquarters, Eve Leary in the company of his lawyer to present his complaint against Nandlall stemming from a 19-minute phone conversation between the AG and Kaieteur News reporter Leonard Gildarie on Saturday. The police say they now need clarifications from Lall and that he should visit Brickdam. However that has not happened.
Sources say it appears that the police are also probing complaints that the newspaper improperly recorded the Nandlall conversation and that this could lead to action against Lall and others responsible.
The Attorney General yesterday again declined to comment on the case when contacted by Stabroek News.
The police force yesterday warned that its investigation would be “severely limited” without clarification by Lall on parts of statements he submitted on Monday along with a 19-minute recording of the phone conversation.
Lall on Thursday evening made it clear to Stabroek News that earlier in the day he spoke to the lead detective, who said nothing about him being needed but rather asked about the whereabouts of the reporter and a statement that he has to give to the police.
However, yesterday the police issued a statement disputing Lall’s claims and reaffirming that Lall was needed in person for a statement to be taken. “The Guyana Police Force admits that Mr. Glenn Lall did speak to Detective Deputy Superintendent Michael Kingston yesterday Thursday October 30, 2014, who, among other things, reiterated the invitation by the Divisional Commander of “A” Division for him to attend the Brickdam Police Station in order that an interview can be conducted to clarify some issues in his statements,” a statement from the police noted.
It added, “As soon as Detective Deputy Superintendent Michael Kingston told Mr. Glenn Lall that he has to attend Brickdam for that reason, Mr. Glenn Lall hung up the phone… The Guyana Police Force wishes to inform that it is not desirous of making a public relations issue out of this matter and further insists that Mr. Glenn Lall presents himself to the Brickdam Police Station, to either the Divisional Commander Senior Superintendent Clifton Hicken or Detective Deputy Superintendent Michael Kingston, so that the interview can be conducted.”
Lall scoffed at the police’s requests as he pointed out that he saw no reason why he should have to. “Why do I have to present myself? Do I look like a cake or a gift?” he questioned for the second day running.
He said all day yesterday he was at his office and made several phone calls to police personnel: from the Officer in Charge of the Brickdam Station to Assistant Commissioner David Ramnarine all to no avail. He recalled that the night before, upon hearing that the police wanted him, he and his attorney Christopher Ram went to the Brickdam Station only to be told there was no one there to meet with them.
He said too that his number has been listed in his daily newspaper and if the police wanted him they could contact him at any time.
The police have also said that they wanted the reporter Gildarie to also present himself to the station but up to press time he had not done so.
Firm
Meanwhile, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) said that the party remains firm in its call to have Nandlall removed from office.
General Secretary of APNU Joseph Harmon posited that Nandlall was a public officer serving in a high capacity, representing Guyanese at the highest legal level and should always carry himself as such. “The AG don’t stop being paid at 4’0 clock on Friday. It is a full-time job and that is what the constitution requires you, to act and behave in a full-time manner…you cannot now separate the AG to say this part is public and this part is private,” he asserted.
Harmon also criticised President Donald Ramotar’s decision to have his PPP/C administration stand behind the AG on the basis that the conversation was private and that a law was broken when the call was intercepted.
“These are issues that will be determined in a court of law. In a court of public opinion, that is evidence for me. It is evidence for every other Guyanese… for Guyanese it is the content I am asking you to look at,” Harmon stressed.
“The question [of whether] it’s a private conversation and the privileges and so on, those, I believe, will be dealt with in the court of law but I am talking about the court of public opinion…what is it that they are hearing from their AG and in the court of public opinion he said it and therefore something must be done about that,” he added.
He said that he and APNU leader David Granger would not use the profanities Nandlall used in his conversation as they know what behaviours are required of them by the public.
Said Harmon “I don’t recall that myself…at least never in public, I don’t even recall in private. I am a gentle person and I believe the Brigadier is a gentle person too we would not abuse even over vilest enemy.”
“Even with all the things the PPP has been doing to this nation we have never described them in that manner… they should have even stronger language but we don’t use them kind of words duh. We have a grasp of the English language that is sufficient enough to express ourselves in a way that people understand,” he added.
