AG says ‘vindicated’ by DPP’s withdrawal of larceny charge

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Hon. Mohabir Anil Nandlall says he feels “vindicated” by the decision of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to withdraw the simple larceny charge against him.

AG Nandlall was charged in 2017 in what he said was a “politically motivated” move by his predecessor Mr. Basil Williams SC over his possession of $2 million worth of Commonwealth Law Reports.

The AG had argued then that the Reports were given to him by former President Donald Ramotar, as part of his contractual service as then Attorney General.  Former President Ramotar had also confirmed this in a letter.

Speaking to DPI today, AG Nandlall said the DPP discontinued the charges based on a request from the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU). He said SOCU confirmed that it was instructed by the former Attorney General to institute the charge against him.  SOCU also confirmed that the prosecutor was hired by the former AG instead of the DPP and was paid by the Office of the Attorney General, the AG relayed.

“That confirms my initial response that that charge was politically motivated and I was politically prosecuted because I was critical of the Attorney General. He told me to my face that if I did not stop criticising him, that I would be charged,” AG Nandlall told DPI.

The Attorney General said his predecessor continued the charges, although a review by the Auditor General proved that no offence had been committed.

Although he was gifted the Law books, AG Nandlall said from the moment it became an issue, he immediately ordered the very books from LexisNexis and presented them to SOCU. However, they were refused.

The reports were recently handed over to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Legal Affairs.