Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is insisting that his Attorney General was not disqualified from representing this country in a Miami court.
The issue of Reginald Armour’s disqualification from representing this country remains a topic of national concern, but when quizzed by the media, Rowley dismissed the questions at a media conference on Saturday.
“I don’t know about any automatic disqualification, I know about a recusal, and I am staying right there,” he said.
In early June, the decision of a Miami judge to “automatically dismiss” Armour and the US law firm, Sequor Law, from representing this country in a civil matter directly tied to the Piarco airport fraud case was made public.
On June 21, Armour paid for full-page ads in every local newspaper, attempting to bring clarity to the issue.
“I was surprised to learn that the Judge had made the order disqualifying me and the Republic’s US lawyers on the 27th April 2002 (*sic), which meant there was no opportunity for me to put my clarifying evidence on record,” one part of Armour’s statement read.
The AG said he had not correctly remembered his role as a defence attorney for Piarco fraud accused, former finance minister Brian Kuei Tung. On that basis, he and Sequor Law were disqualified.
But on Saturday, the Prime Minister would hear none of that.
He repeatedly insisted that Armour was not disqualified and had instead recused himself from the matter.
Asked how much the automatic disqualification had cost taxpayers, the Prime Minister said, “The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago is under a recusal, and that matter is proceeding in the court, so I do not know about costs.
“The court’s ruling based on the conflict with the Attorney General is that the lawyer, the law firm that we were using appears to be conflicted, the Attorney General acknowledges that and the court has asked that that group of lawyers not be in the case and another group of lawyers have taken over and is proceeding to advance the country’s interest in the court, that is what it is,” Rowley added.
He also dismissed the requisition before the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago filed several weeks ago, for a vote on a motion of no-confidence on Armour.