Despite protests by the prosecutor, an adjournment was granted on Friday in the proceedings against former Attorney General Anil Nandlall for the alleged fraudulent conversion of law reports, pending the ruling of the Court of Appeal on whether or not he should lead his defence.
Since last November, Magistrate Fabayo Azore had ruled that a prima facie case was made out against Nandlall on the charge that he fraudulently converted over $2 million in law reports and subsequently called upon him to lead a defence to the charge. He has since challenged her ruling.
At Friday’s hearing, Magistrate Azore told the court that she had no written order that states that she cannot proceed with the matter.
Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) prosecutor Patrice Henry then informed her that a three-month stay was granted by the Appeal Court, which ended on October 1st. He stated that beyond that date, there is nothing preventing the defence and the prosecution from proceeding with the matter.
However, Nandlall said that a matter was currently before the Court of Appeal, which is due to make a ruling but has failed to set a date. He subsequently requested that the matter in the magistrate’s court be adjourned until the end of December to facilitate the ruling of the Court of Appeal. Further, he said that his lawyers are prepared to apply for a stay in proceedings if she did not adjourn the matter.
Henry objected to the request, while stating that the prosecution does not know when the Court of Appeal will hand down the ruling and requested that Nandlall lead his defence.
Nandlall said that it was not his fault that a decision was not made and stressed that the matter in the Court of Appeal is about whether he should lead his defence or not.
Magistrate Azore subsequently granted Nandlall’s request despite the disapproval of the prosecution, who said that that matter has been in the courts more than a year and he was instructed to complete the matter quickly. Azore adjourned the matter until November 29th, and told Nandlall to apply for a stay beyond that date if the Court of Appeal does not hand down a ruling by then.
The charge alleges that Nandlall fraudulently converted 14 law reports, valued at $2,313,853 and property of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, to his own use and benefit between May 8th, 2015 and May 29th, 2015, at Georgetown.
