Attorney General Basil Williams SC yesterday stopped short of publicly apologizing for his conduct during the Carvil Duncan High Court hearing, which Justice Franklin Holder has described as “despicable,” but expressed his willingness to work along with the judge to have the matter sorted out.
“…We can’t allow [Anil] Nandlall to create this problem and then we leave it unresolved…The judge and I will resolve the issue,” Williams said. Justice Holder in a letter of complaint which was dispatched to Chancellor (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards on Monday, called Williams’s behaviour “contemptuous” and made it clear that he will not deal with Williams unless he receives an apology in open court. It was Duncan’s lawyer, Nandlall, a former AG who took to Facebook hours after the court hearing had ended, claiming that Justice Holder had been threatened in open court.
Yesterday reporters were gathered for an engagement at Williams’s chambers when a statement on the issue was handed out. Williams had initially declined to take questions on the statement. But when pressed on if he intends to apologize to Justice Holder, Williams said, “Well we will work with the judge…. The allegation that I threatened to kill him and all that nonsense, that is not so and I suppose in the office I am in, these allegations keep cropping up.” He said that the statement distributed to the media was his response to Justice Holder’s letter.