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Jamaican-born British Queen's Counsel Vincent Nelson – who pleaded guilty to receiving kickbacks for State briefs and who is the State’s main witness against former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, and former opposition senator Gerald Ramdeen- received a little over $10 million in outstanding legal fees from the State between 2017-2019.
The information was contained in documents on legal fees paid to private attorneys by the Office of the Attorney General over the past six years, which were laid in Parliament on Friday, by AG Faris Al-Rawi.
The list provided by the AG showed Nelson receiving payment of $10,230,502.96 between 2017 and 2018 and $768,718.50 between 2018 and 2019.
He also allegedly received $40,671,814.26, between 2010 and 2015, a previous list presented in Parliament had stated.
Al-Rawi did not disclose what the fees paid to Nelson were for, but noted in his statement to the Parliament, in one case alone for the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR), his office incurred expenditure in the sum of $10,230,502.96 to one external professional which, he said, resulted in over $1B billion in revenue being collected for the State.
The amount given by Al-Rawi for the BIR matter was the exact amount paid to Nelson.
In 2017, Nelson sued the Attorney General for $10 million in unpaid legal fees. He was retained in 2014 to represent the BIR in a series of tax appeals against energy company bpTT.
In that matter, Justice Ricky Rahim in the San Fernando High Court dismissed an application by the AG to strike out Nelson’s lawsuit.
Delivering a preliminary decision, Justice Rahim had ruled that the AG’s office failed to prove that Nelson had no basis for bringing the claim and that it was an abuse of process.
The judge said the issues raised in Nelson’s lawsuit should go to trial. The State had argued that Nelson breached his retainer contract as the tax appeals were settled with bpTT for $2 billion in May 2015 and did not go to trial.
In December of that year, State withdrew its appeal which sought to challenge Rahim’s refusal to strike out the lawsuit.
In March 2020, Nelson was ordered to pay a total of $2.25 million in fines, nine months after he pleaded guilty to his role in the alleged legal briefs kick-back conspiracy involving Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
In May 2019, Nelson, 62, a tax attorney, who lives in the UK, was indicted on three charges of conspiring to commit money laundering, misbehaviour in public office, and conspiracy to commit an act of corruption. The misbehaviour charge was discontinued in accordance with the plea deal he struck with the State in May 2018.
It is not certain if he has paid any of the fines. However, in response to repeated questions from Newsday, the Judiciary pointed to the covid19 emergency practice directions issued by the Chief Justice which contain measures extending the time for the payment of fines.
According to the schedule in the covid19 emergency practice directions, Nelson’s first two payments were due at the end of July and August 2020, but subsequent deferrals now allow for payment of fines from August 3.
Since his first appearance in the TT courts last year, Nelson had been put on bail and given permission to leave the country, returning for the hearing of his case after he expressed fears for his safety and because of his health condition. This was part of the plea agreement.
Now that he has been sentenced, the bond replaces the bail but he must still return to TT to testify or he will be jailed for two years which is the default punishment if he fails to adhere to the conditions of the bond.
Ramlogan and Ramdeen were also expected to return to court in June, however they have received new adjourned dates in October, as magisterial cases were also pushed back because of the covid19 restrictions. At a previous hearing, the court was told that Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, was seeking to bypass a preliminary inquiry by sending the case directly to the high court.
Newsday understands indictments against the two have not yet been filed.
In an interview with Newsday on Sunday, Al-Rawi said he was very careful in releasing the information related to the payment of fees to attorneys so as not to prejudice any matter either before the courts or under investigation.
He said he has been in constant contact with the DPP.
He also told the Parliament that his office had to be careful “that any information relating to the payment of fees in specific matters to named external professionals and with any accompanying information has the potential of affecting investigations that have been completed or which are ongoing or which are being prosecuted.”
He said it had the potential to affect fair trial rights which the courts have repeatedly cautioned against.
Al-Rawi said his office had written to all attorneys asking them whether they consent to their fees being released and had also written to the DPP, the Financial Investigation Branch, the BIR and the Central Authority before releasing the information.
He explained many invoices named entities and individuals. The list he provided on Friday was redacted to remove the names of some attorneys.
“Given the state of the law, the Office of the AGLA cannot act in such a manner that will cause the disclosure of information to adversely affect these matters, to tip off potential witnesses or persons being investigated as well as to protect the safety of witnesses.”
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