By Prior Beharry
FARIS AL-RAWI has polluted the stream of criminal justice in Trinidad and Tobago and therefore must resign or be fired from the Cabinet.
This is the call being made by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar when she held a press conference on Tuesday.
She once again slammed Al-Rawi for the role he played when he was attorney general in the bribery case against two United National Congress members. It was discontinued by Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, on Monday.
Persad-Bissessar said, “Al-Rawi polluted and contaminated the stream of criminal justice. The stench stinks to the high heavens. All of this to fuel his vaulting political ambition to take over the reins of leadership from others and out do his arch rival Stuart Young.
“He couldn’t care less about the lives he would destroy and the innocent casualties. He was blinded by his personal desire to get (Anand) Ramlogan and (Gerald) Ramdeen at any cost so that he could beat his chest and proclaim that the UNC is corrupt.
“Today I demand Al-Rawi’s immediate resignation from the cabinet.
“A State witness has filed a claim against him which raises serious issues of misbehaviour in public office, witness tampering and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
“It is untenable and unacceptable in a constitutional democracy such as ours for Faris Al-Rawi to sit in the cabinet with such serious issues swirling over his head.”
But in a release issued on Tuesday, Al-Rawi said that he flatly rejects all the allegations made by Persad-Bissessar and he will hold his own press conference at 11 am on Wednesday.
He said, “I simply remind the media and good citizens of T&T for now that Mrs Persad-Bissessar has a vested interest in defending members of the Opposition and that the allegations of the Leader of the Opposition are not new and have been parroted by her in different ways over the last few years.
“The full facts shall speak for themselves and justice will be done as the allegations presented by Mrs Persad-Bissessar shall be refuted.”
In March, Al-Rawi was replaced as AG by Reginald Armour and is now the Minister of Rural Development and Local Governemnt.
At her press conference, the Opposition Leader said for the first time the DPP revealed Vincent Nelson, KC, had filed a multi million dollar lawsuit against then AG Al-Rawi and the State.
She said, “He is claiming over TT$150 million. This money is not of the AG or the state, but of the taxpayers of T&T.”
Persad-Bissessar said Nelson’s claim was based on the breach of an indemnity agreement that Al-Rawi secretly entered into with him.
DPP withdrew the criminal case against Ramlogan and Ramdeen after he said that Nelson who is the State’s main witness refused to testify unless the civil law suit he has with the State was finished. In 2019, Ramlogan and Ramdeen were charged with conspiring with Nelson for Ramlogan to misbehave in public office as AG. The State was alleging that Ramlogan accepted money from Nelson as a reward for giving him state briefs.
It was further alleged that they conspired with Ramdeen who received, concealed and transferred criminal property which represented corrupt rewards given to him by Nelson for the state briefs.
Nelson pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay a fine of $2.25 million in restitution as part of a plea bargain.
At her press conference, Persad-Bissessar said that by law, there must have been a pre-action protocol letter before civil proceedings were filed and questioned why Al-Rawi did not make this public. She said this would have exposed at an early stage that the prosecution against Ramlogan and Ramdeen was doomed to fail.
She asked how could such a major claim against the state be concealed.
Persad-Bissessar said that Nelson’s local lawyer was Roger Kawalsingh who has thus far received $6.6 million for representing him. She also said that Nelson’s UK lawyers BCL Solicitors in London received $2.7 million.
She referred to Kawalsingh as Al-Rawi’s BFF (best friends forever) referring to a picture with both of them at Kawalsingh daughter’s birthday party.
Persad-Bissessar said that Al-Rawi also sold his Porsche Cayenne to Kawalsingh and the ownership was transferred years after. She questioned how insurance was procured for the vehicle since information on the owner of it must be provided.
She said Kawalsingh received state briefs when Al-Rawi was AG and was the recipient of 80% of legal work given out by the Southwest Regional Health Authority. She said including the Nelson matter, Kawalsingh got more that $20 million in state fees.
The Opposition Leader called on the Criminal Bar to indicate whether it was normal for the state to pay legal fees of a defendant it was going to prosecute.
She also produced a letter by BCL Solicitors dated November 23, 2020, demanding from Al-Rawi 450,000 pounds sterling for Roger Kawalsingh and 275,859.47 pounds sterling for Tom Allen, QC for representing Nelson in the indemnity agreement saying he was willing to testify against Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
Al-Rawi wrote to Gaspard on December 7, 2020 attaching the letter from BCL and stated: “I am mindful of any allegations of undue influence and as such, I bring the said correspondence to your urgent attention for your consideration and advice.
“Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.”
Nine days later, Gaspard replied: “Respectfully, I decline to proffer any advice to you in this matter, since the handling of same and its potential progenies, falls entirely within your purview and that of your legal advisers.
“Further, it is my considered opinion that it would be improper for my office to associate itself with this
development.”
The Opposition Leader then asked if Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and the Cabinet knew about the indemnity agreement with Nelson.
