With the ten-day ultimatum for the return of 15 seized computers from the Enmore/Hope Neighbourhood Democra-tic Council (NDC) having expired without them being returned, attorney Anil Nandlall has said that he will file court action against the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) today.
Nandlall, the former attorney general, had first given SARU a seven-day ultimatum, which he later extended another three days. In a letter to Chief Executive Officer of SARU Aubrey Heath-Retemyer, on behalf of the NDC, Nandlall had said, “…I hereby demand that you return the aforementioned equipment to my client at the location from which they were taken, within seven days from the date hereof, if you fail to do so, my client will be advised to institute legal proceedings against the State and possibly, private criminal charges against each of the officers who were part of the aforementioned unlawful and criminal exercise.”
The seven-day period was then extended by Nandlall, who said he was demonstrating some amount of leniency given that the Easter holidays had just concluded. He had related to Stabroek News that the NDC would then sue for the return of the computers, trespassing and for violation of constitutional rights. He is of the view that the computers, which were donated, were the property of the NDC.
Contacted on Friday, Heath-Retemyer said that Nandlall was free to file what he had to file and SARU, free to defend what would be filed against them.
According to the head of SARU, there were no further developments on the matter since the computers were still with the eGovernment Unit.
Heath-Retemyer explained that an understanding was arrived at between the NDC and the eGovernment unit that the computers will be returned whenever they can work something out in setting up a learning centre.
The SARU head also informed the computers are with the eGovernment unit and SARU never had possession of them. He also informed that as far as he knows the computers are the property of the government.
Officials of SARU along with employees from the eGovernment Project Execution unit had gone into the NDC two weeks ago and seized the computers after learning of a plan to sell them.
The evidence, it was stated, was in the documented minutes of a December 21, 2016 meeting, which were signed by the NDC’s Chairman, and showed a decision to sell the computers.
The NDC’s Vice-Chairman Mohammed Dawud accepted that there were discussions surrounding the sale of the items, but denied that there had been anything sinister about the arrangement, as the computers were outdated and malfunctioning, and were under consideration to be sold to fund new ones.
The NDC disagreed that SARU had the authority to interfere in the decisions of the council, which it noted was an autonomous, legally elected body independent of the government, and was therefore legally authorized to make its own decisions.
The Ministry of Public Telecommunications on the other hand, in a statement, maintained that the computers, donated by Basic Needs Trust Fund, were regarded as state property and therefore could not be sold.
The opposition PPP, in a statement released hours after the seizure, had said that the equipment was owned by the Community Resource Centre, a non-governmental organisation established by the residents of Enmore, which uses the equipment to hold classes in the upper flat of the NDC building for young people of the community.
