Derek Achong

At­tor­neys rep­re­sent­ing the Speak­er of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tive yes­ter­day at­tempt­ed to join a civ­il suit brought by for­mer prime min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning against the Priv­i­leges Com­mit­tee.His at­tor­ney, Dou­glas Mendes, SC, op­posed the ap­pli­ca­tion be­fore Jus­tice Car­ol Gob­in in the Port-of-Spain High Court, say­ing he was con­cerned with the mat­ter of costs, if the Speak­er was added as a re­spon­dent in ad­di­tion to the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al who was al­ready a par­ty.Mendes said if Man­ning was to lose the suit he would have to pay the costs of both groups of at­tor­neys.He added that the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al usu­al­ly rep­re­sent­ed the State in civ­il mat­ters, which in­clud­ed the Speak­er, and ques­tioned the need for the Speak­er hav­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tion for the pro­ceed­ings.

Gob­in or­dered both par­ties to file writ­ten sub­mis­sions on the ap­pli­ca­tion made by Deb­o­rah Peake, SC, who rep­re­sents the Speak­er, be­fore a rul­ing would be giv­en. Man­ning's at­tor­neys filed two law­suits ear­ly this year, seek­ing to chal­lenge Par­lia­ment's de­ci­sion on May 16 to sus­pend­ed him for the rest of the last Par­lia­ment ses­sion for con­tempt and for deny­ing him le­gal rep­re­sen­ta­tion be­fore the com­mit­tee.

He was found guilty of con­tempt by the com­mit­tee for state­ments made in Par­lia­ment last year about Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Biss­esar's pri­vate home near Bryan's Gate, Philip­pine.Man­ning's le­gal team in­cludes John Je­re­mie, SC, Stau­rt Young, Ker­wyn Gar­cia and Sasha Franklin.Se­nior coun­sel Rus­sel Mar­tineau and Dana See­ta­hal, De­vesh Ma­haraj, Kelvin Ramkisson and Sean Julien rep­re­sent the in­ter­est of the State in both suits.The mat­ter was ad­journed to Ju­ly 6.