By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE decision by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to make public the names of the attorneys who voted in favour of Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, during a vote on a motion of no-confidence against him is supported by two Members of Parliament.
On Sunday, at the Opposition weekly press briefing, MPs Rodney Charles and Rushton Paray said they were standing by their leader in her decision although there was a call for her to apologise.
Last Monday, Persad-Bissessar lambasted all the senior attorneys of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) who voted in favour of the AG saying many of them had Government affiliations and received handsome payments from state briefs.
She then proceeded to disseminate information to the media about their names and payments.
She was criticised for her action by Housing Minister Camille Robinson-Regis and attorney Israel Khan, SC.
Charles said, “My own view is that the Opposition Leader was right to disclose the fact that many who voiced their support for the embattled AG did not make full disclosure.
“Maybe they, like the AG, simply forgot. Maybe they felt that it would weaken their case, maybe they hoped that we would not notice, or, like the AG’s omission in the Miami courts, they probably felt that it was a minor matter. If those are the thoughts of senior members of our bench, our legal luminaries, our legal exemplars, then heaven help us and especially young practitioners in the field.”
He continued, “My view is that she acted correctly, appropriately and in the highest ethical traditions of honesty, integrity and full disclosure.”
Paray added that he had seen notes from the special meeting that took place on July 15 and said it was interesting, some of the rationales used in support of the AG.
“I hope at some point they will release the transcripts. I find it interesting that people want to chastise the Opposition Leader for speaking out, but the AG, who made a serious error in judgment, can do no wrong,” he said.
Persad-Bissessar had also called for the minutes of the meeting to be made public.
Armour had said he was “humbled” by the lawyers’ confidence in him.
The Opposition Leader and her MPs have been repeatedly calling for Armour to resign following the revelation that he was a defence attorney for former finance minister Kuei Tung and his partner Renee Pierre in a criminal matter arising out of the construction of the Piarco International Airport more than a decade ago.
The State of Trinidad and Tobago had filed civil proceedings to recover monies from the alleged fraud during the construction of the airport. When Armour became AG, two of the defendants in the Miami case Kuei Tung and Steve Ferguson filed an application to have him disqualified since all civil litigation of the State must be brought in the name of the attorney general and Armour was once an attorney representing Kuei Tung.
He was automatically disqualified by the Miami court but has since appealed that decision.
