Nandlall to lead a defence in two weeks for alleged theft of law reports

Jan 11, 2020 News

Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, will be leading his defence in two weeks, January 24, 2020, in relation to the alleged theft of Law Reports. He should have led his defence, yesterday.

Anil Nandlall

However, Magistrates attended a training session with Judges, yesterday.
Last month Nandlall failed in another bid to have the charge against him quashed. He had approached the Court of Appeal to request a judicial review of a decision by Magistrate Fabayo Azore to overrule a no-case submission in his trial.
Following the Magistrate’s ruling, Nandlall was called on to lead a defence. The Court of Appeal in its ruling said that it will not intervene in the matter as the trial is already underway.
His charge alleged that between May 18, 2015 and May 29, 2015 while being a bailee, in his then capacity as Attorney General, he fraudulently converted 14 Commonwealth Law Reports valued at $2,313,853, property of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, to his own use and benefit.
While the court said it can exercise its supervisory jurisdiction to review such a decision by a Magistrate, this is only in extreme and limited circumstances. The ruling of the Court of Appeal now paves the way for Magistrate Azore to continue hearing evidence in the trial, unless Nandlall appeals to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
In the meantime, the former Attorney General, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge, is out in self bail.
Nandlall was previously reported as saying that when he took up post as Attorney General, he did so at a loss and it was for that reason he agitated for the State to pay for the Law Reports.
He had said that the arrangement received the blessings of then Head of State Donald Ramotar. However, investigators are contending that because the books were bought with State funds, they cannot be the property of Nandlall, and in fact the State should not have entered into such an arrangement in the first place.
The Ministry of Legal Affairs is contending that there is no evidence of an agreement between Nandlall and Ramotar. And even assuming that there was such an agreement, the use of public funds in this manner is a flagrant violation of the Financial Management and Accountability Act.
Nandlall was charged after SOCU, an arm of the Guyana Police Force, completed investigations.

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