Attorney General Anil Nandlall ought to know that any knowledge of an imminent crime should be reported, according to former police commissioner Winston Felix, who says that if the recording of a conversation between the minister and a reporter had not been released anything could have happened.
At a press conference yesterday, Felix, now a main opposition APNU MP, fielded questions on the recording of a conversation between Nandlall and Kaieteur News reporter Leonard Gildarie, in which he advises the reporter to leave the newspaper, while suggesting that innocents would inevitably be harmed in any reprisal by persons “attacked” in its coverage. He can also be heard speaking about criminal activity and his use of public funds for personal activity.
According to Felix, given the AG’s training and experience, he “ought to know that if a crime or a potential crime comes to your attention, that you need to report it to the proper authorities so that they can take action.” He said that from listening to the recording, one cannot escape coming to the conclusion that “the head of the Bar in Guyana knew of an imminent crime. Thank God for how things played out or else I do not know what would have happened in Saffon Street.”
The circulation of the recording has prompted calls from the Guyana Bar Association and the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers for Nandlall’s resignation or removal from office. The professional bodies said he offered knowledge of actual and planned illegal activities and noted that even in “private conversation” his comments were “deeply troubling and inappropriate,” while their candid nature calls his character and professionalism into question.
However, in spite of the damning statements made by Nandlall in the recording, the government has insisted that it is standing by him, while questioning how the recording was made. The government has publicly said that its focus is not about what was said during the “private conversation” between two friends and has dismissed calls for Nandlall to be removed from office and accused Kaieteur News of using blackmail tactics to stave off a tax audit.
A copy of the recording and statements have been handed over to the police by the newspaper’s owner Glenn Lall, who subsequently told the media that the lives of those at the newspaper were being threatened. Subsequently, he told Stabroek News that he had become aware of a plot to kill him and made a police complaint two weeks prior.
Nandlall has since said that the conversation was twisted and manipulated to represent something different.
Investigating
Yesterday, Gildarie submitted a statement with answers to questions that police wanted clarified, his attorney Christopher Ram said. Ram told Stabroek News that as was agreed on Saturday, the statement was submitted to the Brickdam Police Station. He added that so far he has heard nothing more about the investigation, while hinting that today he plans to take a certain course of action on behalf of his clients.
On Saturday, Ram had told this newspaper that he was seeing signs of a cover-up. He said that it was shocking that there appeared to be no immediate plan to interview Nandlall. “That is completely mind boggling,” Ram stressed.
He said that when he questioned detectives about their intention to question the AG, they were not responsive. He stressed that a complaint has been filed about threats to the lives of those at Kaieteur News and as a result it is the first duty of the police to interview Nandlall.
The attorney also said that he was “absolutely astonished” at the way the police were handling the matter, while noting that it should be taken very seriously. “This signals cover-up from very high levels,” he said, while suggesting that the hope is probably to drag things out.
Quizzed about the interviewing of Nandlall, Crime Chief Leslie James yesterday would only say that the matter is under investigation.
This newspaper indicated to James that Ram had stated that he was informed that there is no intention to interview Nandlall. When asked directly whether Nandlall has been interviewed or will soon be interviewed, James again reiterated that the matter is under investigation, while questioning whether this newspaper asked Ram where he got that information from.
Up to when this newspaper spoke to Nandlall late Saturday night, he had not been contacted by the police.
Meanwhile, Felix yesterday noted that investigating any matter is a painstaking process that required cooperation and time. Asked to respond to persons who are calling on the police to properly investigate the matter, Felix said some people seem to think that they can walk into a police station and push a statement at them and they must follow.
“It cannot and doesn’t work like that,” he said, based on his experience and knowledge of the procedures that the police ought to follow. “You bring a statement to me, I have to read that statement. I have to analyse that statement. I have to determine where the gaps are and who I need to fill those gaps,” he added.
Felix told reporters that one cannot just take a statement to the police and expect that the police would simply take it and run to prosecute. “Any attitude like that leads to a case that is not properly investigated and those who just want to drop a statement on the police… investigations will be weakened and undermined by your failure to sit across the table and answer questions and probably give a further statement,” he explained.
While there are other steps that can be taken in the process, Felix said that a person who has given a report and the other party may have to appear more than once. “You got to get the statement right. You got to get the facts right,” he said, while adding that there is no sense running to the person who the complaint has been made against with a statement which is not to the satisfaction of the ranks investigating the matter.
Meanwhile, when ask to respond to government’s position that giving into the calls for Nandlall to be removed from office would be equal to blackmail, Felix said “right thinking people” in the society have heard the recording. “I don’t think that anyone who calls for the resignation is on the wrong path. If anybody is on the wrong path it is the government that refuses to recognise wrongdoing and commit it,” he said, while adding that the government needs to take the steps necessary to take corrective action.
Observe the rule of law
Felix was reluctant to speculate on the outcome of the matter but noted that he would like to think that the government “should be very careful with observing the rule of law. That is the big thing here. I would expect that the government will observe the rule of law.”
“The rule of law is not strange to the government. They know about. They talk about it… and ensure everyone is treated equally in the eyes of the law. Not like in 2006 this was wrong and in 2014 it ain’t wrong,” he added.
While Felix was commissioner, a conversation between him and PNCR MP Basil Williams had been intercepted and circulated through the agency of now convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan. The then Bharrat Jagdeo administration had deputed Prime Minister Sam Hinds to seek an explanation of the contents of the phone conversation.
Responding to the defence offered by both the government and Nandlall that it was a private conversation, Felix said that as the law now stands one needs to get permission in order to record a conversation.
However, he added that Nandlall’s mention of the use of public funds for his own personal benefit was “highly irregular” for the Attorney General. He also noted pronouncements by the minister during the conversation about matters not within his portfolio. “…but he knows that this could be done or he could have gotten this done…. in my view… it borders on serious misconduct if not crime. These are issues which the government should pick up on and deal with,” Felix said.
Nandlall has since filed a $30 million lawsuit against the newspaper, its owner and editor. The recording, according to what he told this newspaper, forms part of his case. The conversation was sparked by the newspaper’s reportage of a remigrant relative of Nandlall’s who had imported a vehicle into the country under the duty-free scheme for remigrants.
