People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) presidential candidate Irfaan Ali has been granted another adjournment to facilitate the decision of the Court of Appeal on the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the 19 fraud charges brought against him over the sale of state lands in the ‘Pradoville 2’ Housing Scheme.
The charges against Ali detail offences alleged to have occurred between the period of September 2010 and March, 2015, when he was Housing Minister, and involve house lot allocations to six former Cabinet members—former president Bharrat Jagdeo, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon and Ministers Priya Manickchand, Dr Jennifer Westford, Robert Persaud and Clement Rohee—along with other persons with connections to the then PPP/C government. The lots were sold at below market rates.
After the charges were instituted against him in 2018, Ali moved to the High Court against the Commissioner of Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Chief Magistrate, and Detective Corporal Munilall Persaud to seek a declaration that there was no statutory or common law duty to obtain a valuation prior to the sale of property.
Ali wanted the court to also issue an order quashing the DPP’s decision to institute the charges in the first place, which he contended was irrational, unlawful, void and of no effect.
However, High Court Judge Franklyn Holder ruled that Ali does not have a constitutional right to not be charged, contrary to what he contended in the challenge. As a result, Ali has appealed the judgment. He has argued, among things, that not only do the charges not amount to an offence known to law but that even if proven they would not yield a conviction.
During a hearing before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court One yesterday, the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) prosecutor Patrice Henry told the court that the Court of Appeal heard Ali’s arguments in January. He said that both the prosecution and the defence are awaiting the Court of Appeal’s decision, which will ultimately determine whether the charges will be dismissed.
The matter was subsequently adjourned until March 24th, 2020.
