By Prior Beharry
THE corruption case against former attorney general Anand Ramlogan and former United National Congress (UNC) senator Gerald Ramdeen has been discontinued.
The matter came up before Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle Caddle on Monday.
Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, made the announcement after he said the State’s main witness in the corruption kickback charges refused to give evidence until a case he has against the State was finished.
Gaspard said that Vincent Nelson, KC, stated that while he was willing to give evidence against Ramlogan and Ramdeen he wanted the civil claim against the State to be concluded first.
In that matter, Nelson is seeking damages for breach of indemnity between former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi and himself. Nelson is claiming that indemnity was promised to him.
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.
The third allegation was that the two men conspired with Nelson to give 10% of the legal fees to Ramlogan as a gift for being granted state briefs.
Nelson has pleaded guilty to his part in the alleged kickback scheme. He was ordered to pay $2.25 million in restitution as part of a plea bargain.
As part of the deal, Nelson agreed to turn state witness and testify against Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
Ramlogan was attorney general under the People’s Partnership Government during 2010 to 2015 and was fired by then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for alleged witness tampering in another matter. He has since filed a constitutional motion in that case.
