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A purported agreement to indemnify Jamaica-born King’s Counsel Vincent Nelson from civil and criminal prosecution in return for a notarised statement has led to the collapse of the corruption kickback charges against former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, and former UNC senator Gerald Ramdeen.
On Monday, Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, announced the State’s discontinuation of the charges against Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
Gaspard made the announcement on Monday when the two men re-appeared virtually before Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle Caddle just after 1 pm. Ramlogan appeared from London where he argued an appeal earlier in the morning. When contacted, the former attorney general opted not to comment on the collapse of the case.
At Monday’s hearing, just as the chief magistrate was making inquiries about the filing of evidential objections, Gaspard interjected, announcing the State’s position.
He said the decision was taken after “anxious consideration.”
Gaspard explained the State’s case was largely dependent on the testimony of Nelson.
However, Gaspard said Nelson has said he was “categorically” not willing to give evidence in the preliminary inquiry against the two until the conclusion of a civil claim he (Nelson) has against the Attorney General.
In that civil claim (CV oo408 of 2022), filed in May this year, Nelson is seeking damages for breach of an indemnity agreement signed between himself and former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi.
Newsday was told Nelson’s claim has been sealed, but Gaspard said Nelson is alleging indemnity was given to him in return for his providing a statement concerning “this case” against Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
Newsday, in October 2021, reported exclusively on the alleged indemnity agreement between Nelson and Al-Rawi.
According to a signed document, Al-Rawi purportedly did so on behalf of the Government.
There were also certain promises made which included not making any disclosure of the information to any criminal investigator, prosecuting authority, tax enforcement authority, or disciplinary authority outside TT.
It was agreed that the statement and records will be provided to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau.
The “indemnity” document was signed by both Al-Rawi and Nelson in October 2017 and subsequently initialled by both men in 2019.
At the time, Gaspard told Newsday he knew nothing about the purported agreement.
Newsday understands that Nelson is seeking 12,163,460 British pounds in damages for the alleged breach of indemnity.
Newsday was told the State paid for Nelson’s criminal matter which was heard in March 2020. He was fined $2.25 million by then High Court judge Malcolm Holdip after he pleaded guilty to two corruption charges stemming from the alleged conspiracy involving Ramdeen and Ramlogan. He was also placed on a bond to keep the peace for a period of three years, or in default, serve two years of hard labour. As part of the deal, he agreed to turn state witness and testify against Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
Newsday understands the fines were not yet paid as the covid19 restrictions led to an extension for the payment of such fines.
In court on Monday, Gaspard said his office was not a party to the civil case filed by Nelson and the State had no power to compel the witness to give evidence.
“We cannot extradite him or use the provisions of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act.”
He also said the State did not consider it fair or appropriate to file an application to have Nelson’s statement read into evidence at the inquiry.
[caption id="attachment_979857" align="alignnone" width="916"] File photo: Former attorney general Anand Ramlogan[/caption]
DPP: It would be unfair to defendants
Gaspard added, “It would be unfair to leave these defendants in limbo pending the outcome of the civil claim when there is no date for its conclusion.”
Nelson’s multi-million dollar civil claim has been docketed to Justice Jacqueline Wilson and is expected to come up for case management later this year.
“The State has decided, in all the circumstances, to discontinue this case against these defendants and the State retains the option, of course, to review the case when the civil case is concluded.”
Gaspard maintained one of his primary considerations was whether there was a fair prospect of conviction but “at this stage and having regard to the fact that the civil proceedings may raise germane issues which may attend on the credibility and reliability of Mr Nelson,” he was compelled to discontinue the case.
He said any other option, having regard to the time that has elapsed since the charges were laid against the two, and because of the uncertainty of the case filed by Nelson, “would make for unfairness to these defendants.”
He added, “And the DPP’s office is especially careful not to do anything that would cause the DPP’s office and the TT police service to be associated with any such unfairness.”
He also put on the record the police did all they could have done to secure a different outcome.
“But the outcome today was obviously coloured by factors strictly outside the confines of the police service and the DPP’s office.”
After Gaspard’s explanation, the chief magistrate formally discharged Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
Busby Earle-Caddle commended Gaspard for being “an honourable gentleman, prosecutor and true minister of justice.”
“This augurs well for public confidence in the justice system,” she said.
The men’s lead attorneys, Pamela Elder, SC, and Wayne Sturge also applauded Gaspard. Elder said she never doubted his integrity and knew him to always speak the truth.
“He has acted as a true minister of justice and shown leadership. This country is fortunate to have someone with integrity as Mr Gaspard.”
‘This is frightening’
She also denounced the alleged actions of the former AG. She said millions of tax-payers dollars were paid to Nelson after the alleged indemnity agreement, even paying to represent him at the plea bargaining hearing.
“I have never heard taxpayers’ dollars being spent to pay an accomplice.” She also said she has never heard of a person asking the State to pay a fine.
Elder warned that the “matter will not rest here.”
“What has occurred here is frightening… it shows how State resources were used for the prosecution of my clients.”
Sturge said it was frightening to see a politician “arrogate onto himself the powers” of the DPP.
Ramdeen and Ramlogan were charged in 2019 with conspiring with Nelson for Ramlogan to misbehave in public office as AG, by accepting money from Nelson as a reward for giving him state briefs.
It was further alleged that they conspired for Ramdeen to receive, conceal, and transfer criminal property which represented corrupt rewards given to him by Nelson for the state briefs.
The third allegation against the two was that they conspired for Nelson to give ten per cent of the legal fees to Ramlogan as a “gift” or “reward” for being granted state briefs.
Also appearing for Ramlogan was attorney Russell Warner while Mario Merritt and Alexia Romero appeared for Ramdeen who could not be reached after the hearing. He was seen wiping what appeared to be tears when Gaspard made his announcement.
Al-Rawi also did not respond to questions for comment. Also representing the State was King’s Counsel Edward Jenkins.
 
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