Ministry of Legal Affairs

‘Be agents of peace’ - The Chronicle Newspaper - 21st May, 2018

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Published: 21 May 2018

Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams at the Religious Liberty Congress on Saturday evening (Photo by Andrew Weekes)

– attorney general urges religious bodies

MINISTER of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, encouraged religious organizations in Guyana to become “agents of peace” at the country’s second hosting of a Religious Liberty Congress on Saturday.

The event took place at the Central Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) church and marked the closing of the session put on by the Caribbean Union Conference (CARU) of SDA.
Its conclusion was celebrated with a grand Festival of Liberty and Parade through the streets of Georgetown which included uniformed members of the Masterguide, Pathfinder and Adventurer clubs.

The some 600 marchers held banners and placards promoting religious harmony, impartiality and the congress’ theme: ‘Peaceful Co-existence: The Challenge of Diversity’.
Along with Williams, present to receive the hand salute were Junior Minister of Public Health, Karen Cummings and other CARU executive heads.

The conference began on May 16 with representatives visiting from some 10 countries to engage in discussions on religious tolerance, religious freedom, liberty of conscience and other pressing matters.

Delivering the feature address, Williams said that Guyana’s diversity should be seen as an advantage rather than a disadvantage which can result in productivity and economic growth as all work together.

He told the gathering that even as the country is replete with a history of racial division and strife, it is the church’s duty to help eliminate these common forms of animosity for the benefit of future generations.

“It is the church’s role to foster a spirit of cooperation and tolerance; inclusivity must be the order of the day and the church must be at the forefront. Togetherness is the only way that the vision of a good life for all Guyanese will be realized,” he said.

Presenting scriptural reference, the minister added that the church is entrusted with a ministry of “peace and reconciliation” which is a mission the Government is pleased to assist all religious organizations in achieving.

“Peace cannot be limited to one group, one people or all those of one belief. The work for peace must be the agenda for all of us. The Government cannot do it alone…our Government is ready and willing to work with all religious organizations to build a society that embodies the aspirations of the Guyanese people.

“A society where everyone has equal access to health, social services and education… This Government will continue to work towards the wellbeing of all Guyanese and social cohesion will be made a priority,” he affirmed.

Williams encouraged the local and international visitors to continue their efforts towards transforming their societies for the better.
At the gathering, the Attorney General who celebrated his birthday on Saturday, received greetings in song from the audience.

Executive members of the Caribbean Religious Liberty Association then presented a list of resolutions emerging from deliberations at the congress which were accepted and approved by the attending delegates.

 

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No kickbacks - - The Chronicle Newspaper - 17th May, 2018

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Published: 21 May 2018

Attorney General, Basil Williams (Samuel Maughn photo)

…AG rubbishes PPP’s claims on out-of-court settlements

ATTORNEY General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, SC. on Wednesday denied that his government has received “kickbacks” from out-of-court settlements since taking office in 2015, saying instead that the administration inherited a dysfunctional AG chambers, where most cases were outsourced and poor records kept.

Speaking during a media conference at his office, Williams said three years ago in what constituted a sea change in governance, the APNU+AFC Government took over from Presidents Ramotar and Jagdeo, a failed and corrupt state that was Guyana. “The inexperienced Anil Nandlall whom even his own Presidents recognised was not qualified to be awarded the dignity of Senior Counsel, had just demitted the office of Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs, having served without distinction. Nandlall left, however, a broken and divided office, characterized by two warring camps, the latter because he had taken from the DPP’s Chambers, a Counsel whom he elevated to the rank of Deputy Solicitor General, paying her a salary over a million dollars a month, with allowances in the AG’s Chambers.”

Williams said, “There is nobody who could take kickback and all of that; not in our government. The matter has to be dealt with by the subject minister and then it has to go to cabinet. We have been saying that repeatedly.”

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had accused the government of receiving kickbacks as a result of the out-of-court settlements. He contended that had the matters continue in the court, the state could have won them. “By now they would have settled cases that could potentially lead to about $85 billion of liabilities to the treasury. Already we are paying all of that,” Jagdeo told a press conference last week. Jagdeo said that the several out of court settlements were in fact being used as a conduit to pay kickbacks.

However, the AG made it clear that his government has an anti-corruption stance and its operation in all matters has been “accountable and transparent.” “How is it a kickback? To whom? To all the members of the Minister of Communities and his team, the AG Chambers and his team; the whole Cabinet?” he questioned as he made it clear that government’s

decision to settle several court matters out of court is not as a result of sinister intentions. He explained that out-of-court settlements were necessary as many of the cases inherited from the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration “were incurable”. Among the cases inherited from the former administration are the Rudisha Beverages vs the AG – G$7.2B; NH International L.T.D, Emile Elias vs the AG–US$11M plus G$403M; Toolsie Persaud Ltd vs the AG–G$1.7B; Ministry of Communities vs BK Int.–US$5.7M and the NDIA vs H.Sugrim–G$226.1M.

In the Rudisha case, Williams said the former administration had imposed an environmental tax on non-returnable beverage containers in breach of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its ruling said the Government of Guyana, represented by Nandlall, did not lead evidence to show that tax was transferred as was claimed.

In the NH INT, Emile Elias case which concerned a contract to build a road, which ended up at an adjudication which in 2003, the former government allowed to proceed without any representation, leaving Mr. Rex Mc Kay S.C alone to argue NHEE’s case before the Adjudicator.

“Nandlall confounded the problem by appealing the matter to the CCJ through Attorney-at-Law Mr. Roysdale Forde, on a point where the Government had appealed to the wrong Court. The CCJ didn’t take five minutes to dispatch the appeal,” Williams said from a prepared text Wednesday.

Additionally, Williams pointed to the BK INT matter and noted that on assuming office, he was told Nandlall had taken a decision to pay BK $225M for services rendered despite repeated breaches by BK of the Haags Bosch contract. The court had ruled in favour of BK International, who had sued the Government for breach of contract, holding that he was entitled to remain on site. Williams refused to pay that sum and caused an appeal to be filed against that decision. “Due to the site being consumed by smoke which affected neighboring Communities, and IDB wanted BK off, a settlement was agreed between BK and his team, Minister of Communities and his team and AG Williams and his team,” Williams explained. He made it clear that all of the out-of-court settlements received Cabinet’s approval.

Meanwhile, Williams said he relied heavily on the then Solicitor-General (SG) Sita Ramlall and her junior, Prithima Kissoon when he entered office. “In other words, when you appeal a matter, if the issue wasn’t argued below (in the lower court), we couldn’t raise it on appeal. What we found in many cases, you would have the defence stated but it was not argued or asserted before the court.”

The AG said too that when he took office, there was a handing-over engagement between himself and former AG, Anil Nandlall, who failed to hand over several cases which were outsourced. “Why didn’t Mr Nandlall hand over the cases that he has outsourced? Why didn’t he? If he didn’t hand over how can I go and look for cases” that were not mentioned. He reminded that the AG’s Chambers is comprised of the Solicitor-General, her deputy and a battery of lawyers “so if the SG didn’t know about the case, the Chambers didn’t know… [I couldn’t].”

Asked what would have prevented him from delegating his staff from checking the registry at the High Court, Williams said after losing the $446M Dipcon Engineering Limited case in November 2017, notices were sent to several attorneys, asking whether they are working on cases outsourced by the former administration. Lawyers written to included Roysdale Forde, Ashton Chase, Bernard De Santos, SC, Manoj Naryan, Neil Boston, Ralph Ramkarran, SC, Robin Stoby, SC, Sase Gunraj and Nigel Hughes. No response from the lawyers was forthcoming, Williams told reporters.

“After DIPCON surfaced, certain things were done. We wrote individual lawyers,…and then we wrote the court asking the court [Court of Appeal and High Court] to supply list of cases involving the AG,” said Williams, who disclosed that as a result of cases being outsourced without a trace under the former administration, an e-registry is currently being established at his office to the tune of $4M.

He explained that the matter was also placed in the hands of the Guyana Police Force to investigate, while noting that the former AG “has to be questioned by the police as to how many matters he outsourced because we cannot be discovering when judgments are made that these cases exist.”

“We asked lawyers, including the same Ashton Case, and he never disclosed that case. I believe that people need to start being charged now…anyone who continues to proceed with a case not handed over, I would take criminal action against them,” the AG said while declining to explain the grounds to which the charges could be laid. After the $1.7B judgment in the Toolsie Persaud case, Williams said Chase informed his office of the judgment. In his own defence, Williams said there was no system in place at his office indicating which attorneys were dealing with matters involving the state. “Those cases were outsourced without a trace.”

Press Statement - 16th May, 2018

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Published: 16 May 2018

Three years ago in what constituted a sea change in governance; the APNU+AFC Government took over from Presidents Ramotar and Jagdeo, a failed and corrupt state that was Guyana.

The inexperienced Anil Nandlall  whom even his own Presidents  recognized was not qualified to be awarded the dignity  of Senior Counsel  had just demitted  the  office of Attorney General  and Ministry of Legal Affairs having served without distinction.

Nandlall left however a broken  and  divided office,  characterized by two  warring camps,  the latter because he had  taken from  the DPP’s  Chambers a Counsel whom he elevated to the rank of Deputy Solicitor General, paying her a salary over a million  dollars a  month,  with allowances  in the AG’s Chambers.  The Counsel is Ms. Prithima Kissoon.  The Solicitor General was Ms. Sita Ramlal.

Nandlall left the new Government with crippling judgment debts, and ill-prepared cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars.

 He outsourced cases to private lawyers without leaving any trace in the AG’s Chambers, and those lawyers failed to inform or hand over those cases to the new Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, as in the Dipcon Engineering –V- AG and Toolsie Persaud-v-AG cases.

AG Williams’ set about the task of restoring the AG Chambers to those glory days it once enjoyed under the late Dr. Mohamed Shahabdeen and Keith Massiah.

AG Williams anti-corruption, accountability and transparency policies began to bite, and even Nandlall was caught with the Government’s law Books.

The Attorney General Chambers has begun to rebuild and already a new team of lawyers is showing its mettle.

There is no more gravy train at the Attorney General Chambers and Ministry of Legal Affairs.

We offer you hard and honest work and will improve your salaries and conditions of services. Armed with an unblemished record, the sky is the limit. Strive to be a professional public servant.

AG Williams inherited judgment debt cases from the PPP/C Government including: -

Ø Rudisha  Beverages  -V- AG – 7.2 Billion dollars (GC).

Ø  NH International L.T.D; Emile Elias-V- AG $11M USD plus $403M (GC).

Ø Toolsie Persaud Ltd-V- AG-$1.7B (GC)

Ø Ministry of Communities—V-BK Int.-$5.7M USD

Ø NDIA –V- H.Sugrim-$226.1M (GC)

In the Rudisha Case the PPP/C Government had imposed an environmental tax on non-returnable beverage containers in breach of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. The CCJ noted that the Government of Guyana represented by Nandlall did not lead evidence to show that tax was transferred as he claimed.

In the NH INT, Emile Elias case involving a contract  to build a road, which  ended up at an Adjudication  which in 2003,  the PPP/C Government, allowed to proceed without any  representation,  leaving Mr. Rex Mc Kay S.C alone  to argue NHEE’s case before  the Adjudicator. Nandlall confounded the problem by appealing the matter to the CCJ through Attorney-at-Law Mr. Roysdale Forde, on a point where the Government had appealed to the wrong Court. The CCJ didn’t take five minutes to dispatch the appeal.

In the BK INT matter, on assuming office AG Williams was told Nandlall had taken a decision to pay BK $225 million dollars for services rendered despite repeated breaches by BK of the Haags Bosch Contract.

 In addition, the court ruled in favor of BK who had sued the Government for breach of contract, holding that he was entitled to remain on site. AG Williams refused to pay that sum and caused an appeal  to be filed  against  this decision  and, due  to the  site being  consumed by  smoke  which affected  neighboring  Communities, and  IDB wanted BK off,  a settlement  was agreed between BK and his team, Minister of Communities  and his team and the  AG Williams  and his  team.  Cabinet gave its seal of approval.  It is apposite to note   that Nandlall failed to appreciate that his conduct in failing to act in the face of repeated breaches by BK amounted to a waiver of them.

To be continued……………………………….

Cabinet approved all out-of-court settlements - The Chronicle Newspaper - 11th May, 2018

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Published: 14 May 2018

Minister of State Joseph Harmon

…Gov’t ties Nandlall’s tardiness to big judgements 
CABINET had agreed to all out-of-court settlements regarding judgements against the state, State Minister Joseph Harmon has said.
Harmon also said that almost all of the matters where judgements were given against the State were as a result of the inept leadership of former Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall that caused the cases to collapse.

Speaking at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday, Harmon lambasted Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for saying that the government lost billions from the treasury through out of court settlement that could have been won.

“By now they would have settled cases that could potentially lead to about $85 billion of liabilities to the treasury. Already we are paying all of that,” Jagdeo told a press conference on Thursday. Jagdeo said that the several out of court settlements were in fact being used as a conduit to pay kickbacks.

However, Harmon said the issues of settlements are as a result of the previous administration inept level of defence in many of the matters which caused the courts to made determinations against the State. “All of these matters were so badly handled that even at the level of appeal it could not be reversed, the matters which we settled were matters decided by the court, and we felt that it was important to establish a regime of the rule of law which says that we respect the judgments of courts,” Harmon said.

He explained that the settlements were addressed at the level of Cabinet and approval was given for Attorney General, Basil Williams to proceed with the proposals he recommended. “Mr. Jagdeo can say whatever he wants the root cause of these problems started in the administration of the PPP (People’s Progressive Party). Mr. Nandlall, as the then AG, failed miserably to prosecute these matters on behalf of the State, it all falls back into his lap,” Harmon added.

The Minister of State said at the appropriate time he (Williams) will issue a full statement on the matters, “and we would recognise the deep hole into which the PPP has put us in this country.”

Adding that the government is doing its best to keep the country in order, Harmon said, but on a daily basis “you are faced with some ignorance or some nonsense done by the previous administration that you have to deal with now.” Further, he said most of the concessions the APNU government is faced with were given out contractually under the PPP government. “Hundreds of them, we have to literally start to reel back in.”

Only recently, the Attorney General Chambers made a public appeal to all attorneys who are currently working on or have been assigned cases through the Attorney General’s (AG) Chambers prior to May 2015, to submit in writing a list of the said cases to the Chambers before May 7.

In the notice published in the Guyana Chronicle, the AG’s Chambers had said those (attorneys) not authorised by the current AG, to represent the Chambers in outstanding matters are required to “immediately notify the Chambers of the said matters.
“You are asked to give a written report to the Honourable Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Senior Counsel Basil Williams, MP, regarding the status of each case for which you have conduct,” the notice stated.

Williams said that over the past few months, in many of the cases inherited from the PPP administration, no documentation can be sourced at his office. He added that oftentimes cases had been outsourced, but no reports were filed at the AG’s Chambers, an act he described as in contravention of norms.

In the November 2017 Dipcon Engineering Limited case against the government, where the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) dismissed an appeal by the AG of Guyana in the $446M contractual dispute, Williams told reporters that the case is one of several that were inherited from the PPP.
He stressed that no notice was given to the APNU+AFC coalition government until the period allotted under the rules of the Court of Appeal to appeal, had expired. “Further to that, there was no evidence of the file at the AG’s Chambers – it is a new AG and it wasn’t until February at the budget that I was informed by the leader of the opposition about the case.”

Back then, the AG had indicated that the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) would be asked to probe cases where attorneys recruited to act on behalf of the state, in turn represent the intended opponent.

Similarly, last month’s ruling by the High Court to have government pay over $1.7B in damages to Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL), after losing its challenge to that company’s ownership of land at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara (ECD), resulted in a similar claim by the AG. “The Toolsie Persaud case is just like the Dipcon case. My chambers had no knowledge of the case, there is no file in the chambers …we are surprised that we are represented by the old regime under Mr Nandlall.” The State was represented by Ashton Chase. “We are investigating it now and of course we will appeal it,” he assured, noting that his office had requested a list of cases outstanding from the chief justice and the Court of Appeal as well as certain practitioners.

Williams said it is unusual for the State to outsource a case and not have any record of same. He told the Guyana Chronicle that while he had received responses from the chief justice, the Court of Appeal and the practitioners asked, none made mention of the case. “Yes, but no case like that. We weren’t told they had the case…we have to examine now, look at it and read the records. If you had a case since 2008, weren’t you supposed to bring in the case?” Williams said too that the crime chief was asked to probe cases where attorneys recruited to act on behalf of the state, in turn represent the intended opponent.

No wilful failure to operationalise Judicial Review Act - The Chronicle Newspaper - 13th May, 2018

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Published: 14 May 2018

Attorney General Basil Williams, SC

– attorney general

THERE has been no wilful failure and/or refusal on the part of Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams or his government to bring into operation the Judicial Review Act 2010 as alleged by former Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.
Judicial Review refers to that area of the law which allows a person aggrieved by any public officer, including ministers of government, public authorities or statutory tribunal, to challenge the identified act or omission on the ground that same is unlawful. The process therefore guards against the abuse of power.

The Attorney General’s Chambers Saturday, in response to a Kaieteur News article dated May 9, 2018 and headlined: “AG pussyfoots with operational Judicial Review Act— creates barrier to certain reliefs of Court” issued its Affidavit of Defence dated January 2018 which contends that the legislature has provided for the delayed commencement of the Act.
Last year, former AG Anil Nandlall under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had moved to the High Court seeking an Order Nisi of Mandamus compelling the current AG, Basil Williams, to bring into operation the Judicial Review Act of 2010.

When the Act was passed, Nandlall was not serving as Minister of Legal Affairs and AG, but party colleague, Charles Ramson was. In his application, Nandlall argued that the AG has failed, refused or neglected to bring the Act into operation despite it being part of his responsibilities. According to the former AG, when the 2010 legislation was passed in the National Assembly, it could not become operational as the old High Court rules made no provision for Judicial Review.

Williams, by way of the Affidavit, contends that the commencement of the Act must be done in accordance with his administration’s legislative agenda. The Respondent (AG) pointed to Article 106 (2) of the Constitution of Guyana which states that Cabinet has to “aid and advise the President in the general direction and control of the Government and is collectively responsible therefor to Parliament”.

“This legislative agenda is presented by His Excellency the President at the opening of every session of Parliament,” the Affidavit stated, stressing that it is the executive arm of government of which the Minister of Legal Affairs is a member determines the appropriate commencement date of the Act.

DATE SET BY MINISTER
Meanwhile, Section one of the Act says that the legislation shall become operational “on a date appointed by order of the Minister”.
However, the allegations put by Nandlall in his Fixed Date Application dated November 28, 2017 were denied. The State has accepted that there has been a delay since 2010 in bringing the legislation into operation. From 2010 to now, there were at least two different attorney generals, inclusive of Nandlall.

“The respondent contends that the assertion that the enforcement of the Act was dependent on the existence of the Civil Procedure Rules is misconceived and erroneous.”
The State argued that the natural and ordinary meaning of “rules of Court” in section 3(1) of the Judicial Review Act which provides that an application for judicial review shall be made “in accordance with this Act and with rules of court” contemplates rules that are in force and did not expressly or implicitly refer to any rules of Court to be made as alleged by the applicant.

As such, Williams made it clear that the legislature provides for the delayed commencement of the Act.

Additionally, the State contends that the granting of the Orders prayed for by Nandlall would “amount to a grave abrogation of the doctrine of separation of powers for the Judiciary to compel and or direct the Executive to perform the function to determine the date of commencement that the legislature has by law vested to the executive arm of government”.

As a result, the State contends that there exists no lacuna in law or prejudice to members of the public who seek judicial review as alleged by Nandlall. “Since it is settled law in Guyana that before the passage of the Judicial Review Act the High Court of Guyana has powers of judicial review and to make prerogative orders within the law. The applicant’s allegation that there currently exists a lacuna in the law is erroneous.”
The Judicial Review Act No. 23 of 2010 provides for an application to be made to the High Court for relief by way of judicial review.

The matter is being heard before Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire.