Wednesday, September 2 2009

DIEGO MARTIN West MP Dr Keith Rowley yesterday questioned the role played by Attorney General John Jeremie in the decision taken by commissioner Kenneth Sirju to recuse himself from the fourth phase of hearings in the Uff Commission of Inquiry.

In a letter from Rowley’s attorney Margaret Rose, which was lodged yesterday afternoon with the inquiry secretariat, Rowley reports that an emergency meeting over the role of Sirju in the inquiry which had been scheduled for yesterday morning was cancelled after the intervention of the Attorney General.

Rowley said he received information from the commission that Sirju’s decision to recuse himself from the proceedings came only after “a meeting with the Attorney General”.

“Having regard to the information received earlier today from the commission, that following upon a meeting with the Attorney General, a decision had been taken for commissioner Sirju to recuse himself...we feel constrained to point out our client’s deep concern over this apparent intervention of the Attorney General into an independent enquiry,” Rose wrote in the letter.

“The Government and its agencies are to be scrutinised and examined with the context of the terms of reference (of the inquiry and) we trust that the commission continues to be mindful of the need to preserve its independence and the integrity of the proceedings in making all its decisions, findings and recommendations based on the evidence adduced before it.”

The inquiry secretariat yesterday announced Sirju’s recusal from all issues related to the Cleaver Heights project but not from the other issues in the inquiry. The recusal came after lawyers for Udecott pointed to links between Sirju’s firm KS&P and Cleaver Heights contractor NH International (Caribbean) Limited. The recusal cleared the way for the fourth phase of hearings to go ahead next Monday.

Noting that Udecott had made objections to all of the commissioners in the inquiry, Rose argued that legal authorities did not support Udecott’s repeated claims of apparent bias.

“It is our respectful view that the commission ought not to permit its very critical work to be derailed, obstructed and/or delayed by any interested party/parties who may feel threatened or placed in jeopardy by the sworn testimony and other evidence presented before the commission,” the attorney wrote. “To allow this to happen would be to frustrate the very purpose for which the commission was constituted.”

Rowley’s questioning of the role of the Attorney General came as further queries over Jeremie’s involvement were raised due to the appearance of a fax number from the office of the Attorney General on a press release purportedly issued by the inquiry secretariat.

The inquiry secretariat yesterday morning faxed a release to Newsday announcing Sirju’s recusal. The release was faxed from the phone number 623-7193 with a fax trail that labelled it as coming from “AG OFFICE”. That fax number differed from the fax number of the Uff inquiry’s offices at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain which is 627-5014.

The fax was issued in the name of inquiry secretary Judith Gonzalez. In addition to being inquiry secretary, Gonzalez is employed at the Law Commission, which falls under the Office of the Attorney General. The Attorney General, who yesterday morning left for a one-week trip to Grenada, was unavailable for comment.