Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall has opined that his successor, Basil Williams should be charged with, Misconduct in Public Office.
“Attorney General, Mr. Basil Williams, has failed abysmally to account for his dismal performance in office over the three years. His modus operandi of blaming me, the PPP Government, the staff at the AG Chambers, both past and present, and even judges has not worked. The public has simply not bought into his story. As a result, desperation is stepping in.” This is what Nandlall had to say in a Facebook post.
Nandlall was responding to recent statements made by Williams to the effect that the PPP/C is essentially responsible for all the out of courts settlements that the nation has seen under the coalition government. Williams denied allegations of settling cases for “kickbacks” and said that the government will always uphold the rule of law.
However, Nandlall is maintaining that it is Williams’ incompetence that has led to Guyana paying billions of dollars in settlements.
Nandlall said, “The string of failures has been unending. The latest being the case involving H.N Sugrim (Guytrac). This case finally exposed him beyond redemption. He knows it. It was filed after the PPP left Office in June 2015. It concluded in 2017. It was a winable case. Yet he lost it.”
Nandlall noted that the contract provided for the lodgment of a performance bond by the contractor within a stipulated time frame. “The contract further stipulated that a failure to lodge that performance bond would be a basis for its termination. No performance bond was lodged. The contract was terminated on this very basis. This would have been an unassailable defence, once put forward by competent counsel, yet the case was lost. This case commenced and ended while the PPP was out of Office, the press and public quickly realized how clumsy it is for Williams to blame the PPP.”
Yet Williams settled the case for over $226M.
Nandlall said that all of what Williams had to say sum up to just another distraction for his “incompetence.”
Nandlall said, “He now has to come up with another distraction in order to divert attention from this abject failure. So after a long and exhaustive rant at a recent press conference, most of which consisted of recklessly inaccurate assertions unworthy of a response, he announces that the Police will be called in to investigate ‘outsourced cases.”
Further, Nandlall said that if three years after holding Office, Williams can still claim ignorance of cases pending against the State; he should be dismissed.
“That admission alone should be the basis of his dismissal. The truth of the matter is, there is only one person for the Police to investigate in this matter. It is Mr. Basil Williams. The offence is “Misconduct in Public Office”. If I am contacted by the police that is the report I will make,” said Nandlall.
