Private Citizens, Dianna Deravinee Rajcumar and Phillip Marcus have mounted a High Court action in which they are demanding that Leader of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo produce the academic qualifications of the Party’s Presidential Candidate Dr. Irfaan Ali. In the application filed today, Jagdeo and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are listed as defendants.
Contending that they are entitled to know the qualifications of the presidential hopeful, Rajcumar and Marcus are asking the High Court to order Jagdeo to produce the First Degree Certificate and Transcripts for any First Degree conferred on Ali. They also want information on the name of the university or institution Ali would have obtained his qualifications.
Further, the concerned citizens are asking for information concerning the nature of the study completed in relation to any First Degree; information setting out whether Ali was issued with a Certificate of Graduation, which states that it was issued by the Business College, West Demerara Chamber of Commerce and information on whether any studies at the said Business College, West Demerara Chamber did lead to him acquiring a BA Degree in Planning.
Further, they are also requesting a copy of any transcript issued by the said Business College, West Demerara Chamber in respect of a BA Degree in Planning; information on whether any Degree was obtained by Ali from the University of Sunderland along with a copy of the certificate and transcript from the said university.
Should the court grant their request, they are asking that the documents be produced within same says from the date of the court’s order. The court action was filed by Attorney-at-Law Stephen Lewis at the High Court in Demerara. Ali came under scrutiny last year after reports surfaced of his qualifications not being authentic.
Despite this, Ali has maintained that his “real” certification, including diplomas and degrees, are already in the public domain. In October last year, the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad released its list of graduands for the academic year 2018/2019. Ali was on that list as a graduand for a Doctorate of Philosophy.
Right now, Ali is facing 19 fraud charges for alleging selling State lands way below the market price to high ranking public officials including Jagdeo. It is being alleged that the lands worth some $212.4M were sold for a scanty $39.8M. His lawyers have moved to the Court of Appeal in an attempt to have the charges quashed. The Court’s ruling in this regard is imminent.
