AG: Court bill not against UNC persons

MEMBERS of the United National Congress (UNC) are not the targets of a new bill which allows the DPP or defendant to unilaterally move their case from the preliminary inquiry stage to the High Court, said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi. He said apart from “one or two” UNC members, the TT law courts now has some 33,000 other cases at the preliminary inquiry stage.

He was winding up debate on the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, 2019, in the Senate yesterday.

The AG also explained there was no right to a preliminary inquiry but simply to the process of a trial. He added that not every bill with retroactive effect was odious.

Al-Rawi went on to praise Police Commissioner Gary Griffith for setting up a new anti-corruption unit in the TT Police Service. He said it would include British specialist prosecutors who would hold the rank of Special Reserve Police (SRP) police officers.

Al-Rawi boasted that yesterday TT saw it’s first case under new plea-bargaining legislation, seemingly referring to Vincent Nelson QC’s guilty plea in exchange for future testimony against former attorney general Anand Ramlogan and former senator Gerald Ramdeen.