PP official was drinking with accused—Imbert

A high-ranking official of the People’s Partnership Government was drinking champagne in Tobago last Saturday with an accused who could have possibly benefited from the stipulations of the controversial Section 34, PNM MP Colm Imbert said in Parliament on Wednesday night. He was speaking in the debate to repeal Section 34 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Offences) Act. Government moved to repeal the section after concerns were raised over it. Also there were reports that two businessmen on fraud charges­—Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson—might have been freed soon under the section’s provisions.  Imbert said the high-ranking PP official was drinking Dom Perignon champagne with the accused at a hotel in Tobago. “Five bottles...it was a big  party,” he added.

 

Imbert said he was not accusing the Attorney General, Housing Minister Roodal Moonilal or several others on the PP’s front bench, at whom he pointed. He said while the official had been drinking with the accused person who is charged with an indictable offence, lawyers for the accused had been preparing to go to court on their behalf. Imbert said a number of UNC personalities had indictable offences before the court, apart from the two former UNC financiers in the Piarco airport court matter. Attorney General Anand Ramlogan asked: “The Panday case?” Imbert who did not call names, reiterated that several UNC members had such cases. He called on the Government to explain why it had allowed Section 34 to go through and be proclaimed, since it represented an “escape hatch” for some accused. He said the Legislative Review Committee had not scrutinised the clause and the DPP had not been consulted on it.