Government may be employing a political or tactical move by withholding information from the public about the nine former Housing Development Corporation (HDC) officials they have filed a lawsuit against. Whatever the reason for the veil of secrecy over the state’s corruption lawsuit filed against the individuals and companies formerly connected to the HDC, seasoned attorneys Subhas Panday and Seenath Jairam, SC, believe that once millions of taxpayers’ dollars are involved, citizens have a right to know.
Speaking to the Sunday Guardian yesterday, Panday said he believes that Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi sealed the indictments until the defendants were served with the writs. This will in turn prevent the chance of pre-trial publicity. However, he doubted that pre-trial publicity could affect the outcome of the matter.
“They have sealed it, they probably do not want any pre-trial publicity at this time. I don’t know if they believe that if there is a settlement the public will not know about it...My view is that it is a tactical move. Suppose the defendants hear their names involved and they fly out the country and you don’t know where they have gone,” Panday said.
He said this was done in the United States where indictments are sealed and when sufficient evidence is gathered the charges are made public.
Jairam, a former Law Association president, said it was rare that court matters were kept secret. He said only matters involving children, rape, and national security are kept from the public.
“In my view, it appeared that the AG did not want to be sensational with the fact that the Government has sued nine people. This is Trinidad and Tobago and a lot of times this is done for political mileage and we can’t be insensitive to the fact that Local Government elections is two weeks away.
“Perhaps he is being very sensible and sensitive, but I don’t understand why the names of the people being sued can’t be divulged. After all, it is taxpayers’ dollars involved,” Jairam said.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley revealed that the lawsuit had been filed on Wednesday afternoon. Following the PM’s statement, Al-Rawi said it was the first to arise out of extensive audits and investigations ordered by the People’s National Movement after assuming office in September 2015. However, Al-Rawi was tight-lipped on the issue, saying that he wanted to follow due process, unlike the former government. He would only reveal that it was a million-dollar lawsuit.
The T&T Guardian understands that the lawsuit centres around the acquisition of land for the development of a government housing scheme.
Legal sources close to some of the defendants said they had not been served with pre-action protocol letters informing them of the legal action before it was filed, which are usually required in all civil claims.
“They will have to convince a judge that they acted that way to prevent the defendants from fleeing the jurisdiction and from disposing of their assets,” the source said.
In December last year, HDC chairman Newman George and the corporation’s board decided to send its then managing director Jearlean John and six senior managers on administrative leave to facilitate an audit.
In April, the seven officials’ contracts were terminated by the board but the results of the audit were never made public. John and some of the dismissed managers have sued for wrongful dismissal.
The T&T Guardian was unable to confirm if John and the managers were among the nine officials subject to the lawsuit as a legal source close to them said none of them had been served with any court documents up to late yesterday.