No court for Prime Minister, National Security Council members

NEITHER the Prime Minister nor any of his ministers who sit on the National Security Council will appear in court next week for the hearing of an injunction application from former police commissioner Gary Griffith to prevent the publication of the controversial Firearm User's Licence (FUL) audit report in Parliament.

The order for Dr Rowley, former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi, ministers Fitzgerald Hinds, Colm Imbert, Stuart Young, and Marvin Gonzales to appear in court was made by Justice Devindra Rampersad on Friday at 4.18 pm.

However, on Saturday, at 10.45 am, the judge issued a new order which did not include the summons for the Prime Minister and his ministers.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, chastised the media for not reporting on the corrected order, taking issue with media reports which appeared on Saturday on the Friday order.

Armour said although the order was corrected by the judge, “this error” was not corrected by the media, “and still has not been corrected by the media.”

The second order issued by Rampersad and signed by the assistant registrar of the High Court Savita Birbal – who also signed the first – carried a note, written in red, that said it was being corrected “by reason of the court inadvertently forwarding the incorrect version of the amended order for perfection.”

The AG said, “Accordingly, the members of the National Security Council are not summoned to appear before the judge on November 9 or at all, as originally reported."

Griffith’s application, however, will still come up on that date and the AG said legal representations will be made on behalf of the council and all interested parties to the claim.

In granting the order on Friday, the judge also gave Griffith permission to pursue his judicial review claim against the nine for setting up the audit committee to investigate the firearms unit of the police and depriving him of natural justice while also considering laying the report in Parliament.

In his lawsuit, the former top cop wants the court to order the PM and his ministers to disclose the names of the members of the audit committee and grant declarations that the decision to commission the report infringed his rights and was illegal, unlawful and irrational since they did not have the power to appoint the committee.

Griffith is also asking for the quashing of the report or any part of it that concerns him. The injunction he is asking for seeks to prevent the report from being published or laid in Parliament.

Griffith, who served as police commissioner from 2018-August 2021, is represented by Senior Counsel Avory Sinanan and Larry Lalla.

He said from his experience as a former national security minister he knows neither the Prime Minister nor the National Security Council had the authority to appoint anyone to investigate the operations of the police service, so he was concerned about the legality of the appointment of the audit committee.

He also says he is concerned that the contents of the report and the process used by the committee were irretrievably tainted by bad faith and illegality because the Prime Minister has no power to appoint such a committee, and because of statements Dr Rowley made after Griffith announced the launch of his political party and his decision to reapply to be top cop.

Griffith also fears publication of the report or any part of it would expose him to public ridicule and if laid in Parliament, would protect Rowley and the media by qualified or absolute privilege from defamation claims for damages.