Ramlogan, Ramdeen return to court on corruption kickback charges

DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, has been given until June 10 to file and serve all witness statements in the inquiry of corruption kickback charges against former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, and former UNC senator Gerald Ramdeen.

Both men returned to court on Tuesday and will know in August when they will go on trial.

Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle set August 22 to fix a trial date for the charges against both men.

She also gave Gaspard an ultimatum to file all prosecution witness statements by next Friday, as the matter was now three years old and firm timelines needed to be set to progress the case.

Gaspard said there was one “critical” statement outstanding, that of the State’s main witness, British Queen’s Counsel Vincent Nelson, which the police only received on Monday night.

He said there was a 15-page statement by Nelson and two that were five-seven pages long. He also said Nelson was expected to give oral evidence at the inquiry, which was likely to take one day.

Earle-Caddle enquired why his testimony could not be put in writing, since holding a virtual trial in one day was difficult because of connectivity issues, she said.

“It is quite difficult to take evidence for any lengthy period of time, virtually.”

After Ramlogan’s attorney Pamela Elder, SC, said she would be quite extensive in her cross-examination of Nelson, the chief magistrate told the DPP it was for this reason having his evidence-in-chief in writing will “assist greatly.”

Both Elder and Ramdeen’s attorney Wayne Sturge said they had no evidential objections so far, but that may change after they receive Nelson’s statement. If they have evidential objections, they will make them by July 8, after which the State has until July 28 to respond.

Ramdeen and Ramlogan were charged in 2019 with conspiring with Nelson for Ramlogan to misbehave in public office as AG, by accepting money from Nelson as a reward for giving him state briefs.

It is further alleged that they conspired for Ramdeen to receive, conceal, and transfer criminal property which represented corrupt rewards given to him by Nelson for the state briefs.

The third allegation against the two is that they conspired for Nelson to give ten per cent of the legal fees to Ramlogan as a “gift” or “reward” for being granted state briefs.

In March 2020, Nelson, who pleaded guilty in June 2019 to his part in the alleged kickback scheme, was ordered to pay $2.25 million restitution as part of a plea-bargain arrangement with the State. As part of the deal, he agreed to turn state witness and testify against Ramlogan and Ramdeen.

Also representing Ramlogan is attorney Russell Warner. Mario Merritt, Karunaa Bisramsingh and Alexia Romero appear for Ramdeen.