Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, S.C in a statement on Tuesday evening underscored that the decision by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly to throw out the case against former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan is an “egregious error” that will inevitably shake public confidence in the local judiciary.
The former minister was on Tuesday freed of a charge which alleged that between February 26, 2020 and July 31, 2020, he willfully misconducted himself in public office by selling over 2.553 acres situated at North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, to B.K Marines Inc. for $20,260,276, a property valued over $5B.
When the trial was slated to commence on Tuesday, the city Magistrate upheld a no-case submission made by Jordan’s lawyers, Roysdale Forde, SC and Dawn Cush, contending that their client was not a Public Officer.
Senior Magistrate Daly agreed that Jordan was not a “Public Officer”, since he was appointed as a Minister. In handing down her ruling, the Magistrate said that the prosecution failed to prove an important element of the offence. She then discharged the case against Jordan.
In response to Jordan being freed of the charge, the Attorney General disclosed that based upon inquiries made, he was informed that the Senior Magistrate Daly received from the State, written submissions supported by judicial authorities, including, a written ruling delivered by the Hon. acting Chief Justice (CJ) Roxane George-Wiltshire, SC in a similar matter involving Winston Brassington and Dr. Ashni Singh.
Nandlall explained that in this case, Dr. Singh was charged with the identical offence regarding certain acts he performed while he was Minister of Finance and placed before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. The validity of the charge was challenged in the High Court on the similar grounds, that as Minister of Finance, Dr. Singh was not a Public Officer for the purposes of the charge.
After reviewing the submissions from both counsel for Dr. Singh and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, the Chief Justice ruled that Dr. Singh may be charged with the offence of ‘Misconduct in Public Office’ notwithstanding that he was a Minister.
Nandlall highlighted that the CJ’s ruling was delivered on November 18, 2020 and was never appealed. As such, it remains the law on the issue.
“The two cases are almost identical in both issues of facts and law, and the decision of the learned Chief Justice in the Singh and Brassington case constitutes a binding precedent on the learned Magistrate,” the AG said.
He continued that clearly the learned Magistrate erred in law by refusing to follow the decision of the CJ, adding, “Such an elementary egregious error has excited great public concern within a few hours and inevitably will shake the public confidence in the administration of justice. For to the public, it appears that they are different standards being applied to different persons by the administration of justice.”
Moreover, he pointed out that the decision of the Magistrate resulted in Jordan walking free after allegedly vesting title of a State asset valued at over US $40 million to a private company, for which the State received a mere US $100,000. This reportedly occured months after the APNU+AFC Coalition Government of which Jordan was part, had already lost the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections elections but remained in Government for five months thereafter.
