Anti Corruption body calls for Nandlall’s head
…investigate AG’s income, assets; knowledge of planned criminal activity
“His revelations of personal financial impropriety and tacit approbation of impending extra-judicial sanction against the government’s perceived opponents bring the legal profession as a whole, of which he is the supposed leader, to an unprecedented low.”
Following the now infamous recording between Attorney General, Anil Nandlall and Senior Kaieteur News, Journalist, Leonard Gildarie, where the Government functionary intimated knowledge of an imminent violent attack on this newspaper, another prominent group has publicly called for his sacking.
Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) is the latest Non Governmental Organisation to come out against Nandlall and joins entities such as the Guyana Human Rights Association, the Guyana Bar Association, the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers and the Guyana Press Association among others who have all issued unequivocal calls for the resignation or removal from public office of the Attorney General of Guyana, Mohabir Anil Nandlall.
Senior Kaieteur News, Journalist, Leonard Gildarie
According to the local arm of the Transparency International Group, the contents of the recorded telephone conversation between the AG and Glidarie are as shocking as they are revealing.
“That conversation has thrown up a deeply disturbing array of issues that concern, at a minimum, unethical behaviour and integrity in public office, and at worst, multiple illegalities on the part of the Attorney General and the government.”
TIGI noted that in his vulgar tirade, the AG displayed an appalling disregard for the administration of justice, women, journalists, freedom of the press and the rule of law.
“His revelations of personal financial impropriety and tacit approbation of impending extra-judicial sanction against the government’s perceived opponents bring the legal profession as a whole, of which he is the supposed leader, to an unprecedented low.”
According to TIGI, it is yet another blow to a justice system that has facilitated, under the current administration, impunity for high-ranking officials, and even the appointment of an appellate judge while under investigation in another country.
“But even by these low standards, Nandlall’s conduct has brought his office into disrepute and he should immediately resign.”
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall
It was noted too that in the interest of transparency and accountability, TIGI further calls on the Guyana Government to make public information on how much money was borrowed by the AG from public funds, by what legal mechanism this facility exists, and what category of persons would be entitled to same.
“This scandal once again underscores the need for transparency and accountability in government and the urgent need for a functioning Integrity Commission with independent and impartial Commissioners….In fact, given the AG’s boast that he retired from private practice at age 38 as a result of his accumulation of wealth, TIGI hopes that both the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Integrity Commission’s Secretariat are in possession of appropriate and accurate returns and declarations that reflect the AG’s income and assets.”
TIGI said that from its inception it has consistently promoted the principle that public officials in positions of trust must be held accountable; Government and Ministers are subject to the rule of law, which requires that the criminal law of the land be applied to all.
According to TIGI, “the AG’s admissions and apparent knowledge of planned criminal activity require independent investigation, which should not be covered up because of his office.”
TIGI emphasized that it is for these reasons it urges the government to abandon its hasty defence of the AG on the basis of non-existent privacy laws, and instead ensure that his revelations of financial impropriety and other abuses of his office are immediately investigated and prosecuted if necessary.
“In this regard, the government would do well to remember the Privy Council’s memorable caution that the ‘maintenance of public confidence in the administration of justice requires that it be, and be seen to be, even-handed.”
In the recorded telephone conversation last Saturday between Gildarie and the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, and now public audio, Nandlall, while hurling a number of obscenities, conceded knowledge of an imminent attack against Kaieteur News, where the innocent could also be cut down as collateral damage.
Nandlall also confessed of several powerful persons who would have become sensitive to the reportage by this publication and even pointed to a family member whom he had to restrain.
In that now infamous recording, Nandlall can be overheard telling Gildarie to get out of the Saffon Street office, which he described as a “dangerous place”.
He hinted at an intended hit on Lall and the establishment.
“No, hear nah, you know how it gun stop? Somebody gun go into Kaieteur…You see everybody nah gat, as I told Adam (Harris) today …I said Adam, everybody don’t just…everybody, wait hold on…everybody doesn’t have a newspaper to use as a weapon. I told Adam, I said ‘Adam people got weapons, right?
“Is not newspaper they gonna use as a weapon; they got weapons and when you continue attack people like that and they have no way of responding they gun just walk with their weapon into that same f***ing Saffon Street office and wha come suh do, and innocent… Peter gun gah pay fuh f***ing Paul in deh one day.
“Me ah tell you innocent, me ah tell you honestly, man to man, that will happen soon. So the quicker you get out of deh the better.”
The Government has since come out in defence of Nandlall saying that it was a loose private conversation which was illegally recorded and further manipulated.
