ATTORNEY General Faris Al-Rawi has given no legal advice to the organiser of a boat party for an event on Boxing Day.
This is according to the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
On Tuesday, the office issued a statement of clarification and referred to an article published by the Express newspaper. It stated, “A senior legal adviser in AG’s office was said to have advised organisers of a loophole in the Public Health Ordinance which enabled over 100 patrons and popular soca singers to assemble on board a pleasure craft converted into a ‘floating restaurant’ on Sunday.”
According to the article written by Denyse Renne, the main organiser businessman Adrian Scoon wrote to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh on December 26, stating he wished to convert the vessel into a floating restaurant and, more importantly, a safe zone which allows for the assembling of only those vaccinated against Covid-19.
The article states that the correspondence to Deyalsingh read, “Dear Minister Deyalsingh, we at the Ocean Pelican are writing to inform you that we have attained our Restaurant and Bar Licence and wish to convert our vessel into a floating Restaurant and, more importantly, as a safe zone.
“On advice from the Honourable AG Faris Al-Rawi, we ensure you that our vessel will remain docked and will not sail so as to adhere to the Public Health Ordinance Regulations. We emphasise that we plan on observing all protocols that constitute a safe zone during this period.”
Three questions were posed for the AG in a box entitled “Questions for AG”.
The AG’s Office stated, “For the record and for the sake of accuracy and clarity the AG provides the following information which he would happily have disclosed to Ms Renne had she bothered to ask:
1. Mr Adrian Scoon who is very well known to the AG, called many weeks ago to ask a general question about the Public Health Regulations and party boats and the AG specifically informed him to put his enquires to the Minister of Health and/or Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts.
“The AG specifically cautioned Mr Scoon to ensure that whatever he does, he must strictly observe the law, as there are no exceptions.
2. The AG gave no legal advice to Mr Scoon whatsoever.
3. The AG never saw, nor did he authorise, the letter referred to in the article which was supposedly written to the Minister of Health. 4. Mr Scoon’s general enquiries of the AG were, as are all general enquiries of that nature, redirected to the relevant line Ministries where appropriate.”
The Office also stated, “ This morning Mr Scoon offered his apology to the AG, specifically acknowledged that no legal advice was given by the AG and stated that he regretted the inconvenience caused.”
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is the proper entity to advise the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service on any matters in relation to the incident which is the subject of the article. The AG has no remit in this matter, and will leave the law to follow its natural course, the Office stated.
The 100 people on board the boat who were detained have all been released pending further police enquires.
