‘AG must explain his wealth’

IF the Civil Asset Recovery and Management and Unexplained Wealth Bill 2019 gives law officers the power to seize and forfeit a person’s property in the absence of a conviction and only on suspicion, then the Attorney General should be the first person to explain his wealth.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar made the comment yesterday regarding the legislation piloted by AG Faris Al-Rawi in the House of Representatives on Friday.

Referring to Al-Rawi as a lawyer who “never really won a big case in his life”, Persad-Bissessar expressed her own suspicions surrounding the purchase of a property for $2.5 million at 3 Alexander Place, St Clair.

“I have not even seen a mortgage deal with respect to the building of the building. I saw the mortgage deal for the purchase of the land. Maybe he can tell us if there is one. I think if we are going on mere suspicion, the first person who should explain his wealth is the honourable Attorney General,” Persad-Bissessar said.

She was in Princes Town for Liberation Day celebrations hosted by the Shouter Baptist community of the south-east district in collaboration with the Princes Town Regional Corporation. The theme was Abuse me with love! Domestic violence is wrong!

Persad-Bissessar said she supports any legislation that would allow law enforcement to combat the criminal elements and go after ill-gotten gains. But she does not, and will not, support legislation that compromises the rights of citizens, undermines the rule of law and places in the hands of law enforcement, the ability to target innocent citizens unlawfully and take away their properties.

She told reporters, “People who break the law and benefit from criminal activities and are found guilty, I have no problem with their assets being forfeited. We agree with the civil assets forfeiture, it is nothing new in the world. But the process must be a fair process and due process for citizens in the country.”

She raised several objections to the bill.

“What about pensioners who built their homes long ago, from money they made long ago? Are they keeping all those little pieces of paper? Do you know why that is important? They want to make it retroactive and go back to when, slavery days?”

This law, she said, will affect every citizen among them the doubles, bake and shark and corn soup vendors.

“Would you go and ask all the people who are selling cloth, how they sold cloth and now have these multi-story buildings? Where are you going to get these bills, from way back when?”

Although in the Parliament on Friday, Al-Rawi claimed the bill was good law, Persad-Bissessar found it to be irresponsible, reckless and dangerous.

“If a policeman does not like you or if the policeman and your neighbour do not like you, that is all it takes — suspicion – and not even reasonable belief. Then they go to court and get something called a property restriction order, which means they freeze your property,” Persad-Bissessar said.

When this happens, the owner does not have money to pay a lawyer.

What is worse, she said, is the person must fill up a form and the form he has to give his assets, the wife’s assets, their children’s assets and everything else. That information is filed in the court as a public document, opening them up to bandits and criminals.

Al-Rawi, in Parliament, said the bill need not be passed by a three-fifths majority and in response yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said so be it.

“That is how they work, that is how they truncated the Parliament last night (Friday). They shut down the debate, started to wind up so the rest of us could not speak. They did not want to hear us talk.”

But all hope is not lost for the Opposition Leader, a senior counsel, as she is ready to battle in the court of law.

“They will pass it, but we will challenge it in the courthouse. If we cannot do it in the Parliament, once they pass that bill, proclaim it, we will take it to court.”