The Opposition yesterday expressed a willingness to bring back to Parliament the controversial Section 34 act (Administration of Justice) bill to help the Government accelerate cases through the court.
This was revealed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley following crime talks with the Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her delegation.
Rowley said while Persad-Bissessar threw her support behind the abolition of trials by jury, she also showed a willingness for the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act.
“The occurrence of the infamous Section 34 would have prevented us from going down the road of treating with the Indictable Offences bill.
“The Opposition expressed a willingness for us to start over and get done what that bill had intended to help us with, which is to accelerate cases through the court system. So that came up and we have some commitment to work with that with some dispatch,” Rowley said.
In December 2011, the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act was enacted by both Houses of Parliament and received the assent of then President George Maxwell Richards on December 16, 2011.
Included in the act, however, was Section 34, which prescribed a limitation period of ten years in respect of certain offences, excluding treason, murder, kidnapping, rape, assault, drug trafficking and arms and ammunition possession.
Both UNC subsequently had to repeal the law after it was learnt UNC financiers Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson, along with 37 others, stood to walk free of charges arising of the Piarco Airport case with the passage of the legislation.
In January 2016, the Privy Council in London ruled for the State in the Section 34 appeal brought by Ferguson, Ameer Edoo & Maritime Life (Caribbean) Limited.
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said Persad-Bissessar also called for improvements in the criminal justice system, as it related to preliminary inquiries and the speed at which trials moved.
“We were able to provide the Opposition with a list of 16 items (bills), which is just a snippet of some of the matters which are urgent priority matters,” Al-Rawi said.
These bills, Al-Rawi said, will take the profits out of crime and reform the criminal justice system.
“We are convinced that many of the laws stand on the books of Trinidad and Tobago and don’t have the kind of impact into crime. We feel it is very critical, as a country, that we go behind the money...because it is the money that fuels crime.”
Al-Rawi said they were pleased to discuss the foreign terrorist fighters bill, the bail amendments, the improvements of the FIU Act, Motor Vehicle legislation and the Income Tax act, as well as bills on gaming and betting and civil asset forfeiture.
On the criminal justice side, Al-Rawi said they were happy to include the indictable offences preliminary enquiry, the abolition of criminal enquiries, the finalisation of whistleblower protection and the unmasking of owners behind companies.
“This is opening the doors to sharing more information and certainly soliciting the views, so that we know early in the equation what will or will not be objectionable and improving that process of communication,” he said.
The AG said the Government will also report to the country about its operational improvements that have already been effected.