UNC Concerned by AG, Acting PM Misleading Statements on High Court Ruling
The UNC is deeply troubled by media reports that the Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mr. Colm Imbert has advised the Parliament that the government has appealed the judgment in favour of the UNC’s Mr. Devant Maharaj on the property tax case. Mr. Imbert further stated that the Court of Appeal has convened an emergency session to hear the government’s appeal on Monday morning at 9:00 am.
These reckless statements made by Mr. Imbert have been widely reported in the media. In addition to Mr. Imbert’s statement, the audio-visual record of the Parliament sitting shows that the Attorney General, Faris Al-Rawi did in fact make this statement to the House of Representatives during his contribution after the landmark judgment was delivered by the High Court last evening.
These statements were made by the government in Parliament in a clear attempt to do political damage control and give the false impression that the government’s appeal was meritorious and hence warranted the immediate convening of the Court of Appeal in an emergency session within forty-eight hours. We can only assume that the Honourable Attorney General understands Court procedure, and that a Notice of Appeal must be filed before any hearing can be scheduled.
Our legal team led by former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan SC, has not been served with any notice of appeal in this matter. They have also made official enquiries of the Registrar of the Supreme Court, Ms. Jade Rodriguez and have been advised that no appeal has been filed and the Court of Appeal has not convened any emergency session at 9:00 am on Monday to hear the government’s supposed appeal against the property tax judgment.
The UNC is concerned, to say the very least, that the government can make such reckless, false and misleading claims in the Parliament to deceive the population and pour scorn on the undoubted legal victory for the people.
We see this as an alarming and disturbing last ditch attempt by the government to save face and apply pressure on the Judiciary. For the government through its Attorney General and/or Acting Prime Minister, the two most senior members of Cabinet, to exert such naked and raw political pressure on the Judicial arm of the State is a serious breach and fracture of our Constitution which enshrines the separation of powers. The Judiciary is insulated and protected from this kind of disturbing and dangerous political interference as the undoubted consequences of a government meddling in the administration of justice is dictatorship and oppression.
We therefore call upon the government to apologise to the public and the Judiciary for the hypocritical, deceptive and self-serving statements which have no basis in fact. We challenge them to produce any evidence to substantiate the reckless statements as we now know it to be completely untrue.
The UNC also gives notice that it intends to move a motion in the House to bring the Attorney General and/or the Acting Prime Minister before the Privileges Committee for deliberately and wilfully misleading the Parliament and attempting to unduly apply pressure and influence on the Judiciary in a politically sensitive case in which the government’s illegal conduct is being challenged.
Kamla Persad-Bissesar, SC, MP,
Political Leader,
United National Congress
20th May 2017