Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that People’s Progressive Party/Civic Member of Parliament Nigel Dharamlall will have to give “believable” explanations to the executive of the party about allegations that he threatened to shoot an employee of the Inter-American Development Bank after he saw the individual talking to his ex-wife.
“Clearly he has to give explanations, solid explanations, believable explanations to the executive of the party and to us because the allegations are serious,” Jagdeo told members of the media at a press conference yesterday at the party’s headquarters.
On Tuesday, Stabroek News had reported that the police are investigating a report of threatening behaviour made a week ago against Dharamlall.
This newspaper also reported that the file has been sent to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.
Dharamlall through his lawyer, Glen Hanoman has since denied “unequivocally any involvement in any criminal act.”
According to Jagdeo, Rohee met with Dharamlall on Tuesday and that at the party’s executive meeting scheduled for tomorrow, “I suspect that Rohee will at that meeting brief us about the nature of the conversation they had.”
Asked whether he had any reservations about considering Dharamlall’s position in the National Assembly, Jagdeo said “I will listen carefully to the issue.
Apparently the file is gone to the DPP so he is being advised by his lawyer not to say anything because it may be prejudicial to what takes place in the DPP Chambers.”
He went on to state that, “we will return to this matter at some point in time when it is not in this delicate stage where it can influence what the DPP has said.”
Questioned about the party’s stance on former Ministers of Government Jennifer Westford and Bheri Ramsaran who are currently before the courts for alleged offences and the former who is still in the National Assembly, he said that, “we have a clear position. If the government finds any act…you mentioned Minister Westford. We have made it clear that anytime you find anyone that is corrupt or has broken the law they should charge these people.”
“The state should proceed to lay charges against them. They will have to use the mechanism of the court to establish whether they are innocent or not and the reason why is that we have a greater confidence in courts than government being fair,” he said.
