Public trust and confidence in the capacity of our country’s institutions and high offices to make full disclosure and to observe due process of law has again been shaken. Compromising due process is a potential catalyst for wider social unrest because of the way in which the authorities manipulate the …
Read More »Noble: The Public Service and norms—the case of the AG versus the CPC
God has a sense of humour. In 2017, Reginald Armour SC defended the Government in a Judicial Review case brought by a public servant seeking to establish the bounds of authority that the Prime Minister had on his ambassadorial posting. By 2019, in the Court of Appeal, he won with …
Read More »TTPS finds only damaged dustbin and cracked glass at AG’s bldg, after claims of bombs, shooting and ‘shattered glass’
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) has so far found no link between detonated firecrackers in a dustbin at the Parkade on the corner of Queen and Edward Streets in Port-of-Spain and an incident at the Office of the Attorney General on a hectic morning for law enforcement officers. …
Read More »Judiciary: Guardian report on ‘correction’ to Kangaloo report could undermine courts
“[…] As any seasoned attorney would know, however, this is of the nature of errors for which provision is made in the rules for simple correction by the Registrar. This was done. “[…] To suggest any nefarious intent or conspiracy is to seek to undermine the independence of the judiciary …
Read More »Daly Bread: Who is guarding the public interest, as public offices fall prey to political interference?
It is well known that in a functioning democracy checks and balances to guard against abuses of power are required in the public interest. In addition to the separation of the respective powers of the political executive (principally the Cabinet), the legislature and the judiciary, there are additional constitutional provisions …
Read More »PNM national exec mum on Al-Rawi, as San F’do West notes that AG leads ‘marginal constituency’
San Fernando West MP and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi continues to receive limited support from his party, since the furore over his role in the selection process of Gary Griffith as acting police commissioner. Al-Rawi has not yet been defended formally by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, the People’s National …
Read More »Was Griffith legally appointed as acting CoP? MSJ concerned about behaviour of PSC, AG, Chandler and firearm license scandal
“[…] The Legal Notice stipulated that the PSC had to submit to the president a list of persons who could act… Was such a list sent to the president? “To date, the Parliament has not given its approval to an acting CoP. Questions may therefore arise if Mr Griffith is …
Read More »AG: UNC not ‘vindicated’ in Cambridge scandal; UNC: Stop using gov’t resources for PNM propaganda
“[…] In the discharge of my responsibilities as the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, in Trinidad and Tobago, I extend caution against any premature revelry at the pause in the criminal investigation into the matters involving and/or surrounding the Cambridge Analytica fiasco…” The following are press statements from …
Read More »Update: No State of Emergency, prison population reduction and 1,000 tests per day
“If I have a problem, as a public officer and prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, it has to be that I have this confidence,” said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, “that the vast majority of our people are right thinking and reasonable people and will understand—once they are informed …
Read More »Dear Editor: Is Rowley hiding Smith sexual harassment report so disgraced MP qualifies for pension?
“It is certain that both [Darryl] Smith and the Prime Minister are aware that once the issue is postponed sufficiently, and this disgraced legislator is allowed to remain in office for five unbroken years, he will automatically qualify for a Pension paid for by the taxpayers of approximately $8,900 per …
Read More »Dear Editor: State’s belligerence to FOIA requests drove up my legal costs, not greed
“Had the information been disclosed upon my request the State would not have incurred any legal costs… It was the Minister’s and Cabinet’s refusal in the first place and belligerence in the second place that cost the State over $400,000 in legal fees and not my attorneys trying to milk …
Read More »Daly Bread: The boundaries of Attorneys General; from Cox and Barr to Ramlogan and Al Rawi
Two weeks ago our current Attorney General, Faris Al Rawi, and the former AG, Anand Ramlogan SC, engaged in a public dispute over Mr Ramlogan’s appearance in a case heard in the Privy Council on 20 March 2019. The proper boundaries of conduct for attorneys general have also been a …
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