By Prior Beharry
ATTORNEY GENERAL Reginald Armour, SC, is out of the country on official business.
In his absence, Minister of Energy and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young will act as AG.
A release from the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs stated that Armour left the country today and will be out until Thursday.
The Opposition United National Congress (UNC) has made calls for Armour to resign after he was defence attorney for former finance minister Brian Kuei Tung and his partner Renée in criminal proceedings out of the construction of the Piarco International Airport.
The State of Trinidad and Tobago subsequently filed civil proceedings arising out of the same matter in a Miami court against a number of defendants including Kuei Tung and Steve Ferguson. Both men have successfully filed proceedings in the Miami court to have Armour disqualified from the case. He has since appealed that decision.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said that when Armour became AG on March 16, 2022, he became conflicted in the case since under T&T Constitution all civil proceedings in the name of the state is brought by the AG of T&T.
At an UNC political meeting last night, she said that it was an accepted practice in law across the globe that a lawyer cannot be a defence attorney for a client in a matter and then be prosecutor in another one where the same evidence was involved. She said such a lawyer would have been privy to confidential information.
And Barataria MP Saddam Hosein has filed a motion on no-confidence in Armour as AG which he wants to be debated at the next private members’ day of the House of Representatives.
