Grenada Today - The National Newspaper of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique

The Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) says it will not reconsider its decision to appoint controversial Jamaican Attorney-at-law, Hugh Wildman to the post of Attorney General in Grenada.

JLSC gave its response to Wildman's legal counsel, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, the former Trinidad and Tobago Attorney General this week. Earlier in the year, the Commission rejected government's recommendations after a one month strike by members of the Grenada Bar Association (GBA) to protest the appointment.

The lawyers shut down the local courts in February at the start of the assizes and had prepared a dossier which they presented to the judicial body and other organisations in the country on Wildman's alleged misconduct in office over the years.

One of the documents in the dossier was an e-mail purported to have come from British Lawyer Lawrence Jones who was associated with the collapsed First International Bank of Grenada (FIBG).

In the e-mail, Jones charged a public officer close to the ruling New National Party (NNP) administration of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell as being very expensive but that his services were needed to help keep out the U.S Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) from coming into the country to probe First Bank.

Maharaj was retained by Wildman to challenge the JLSC decision and he gave the Commission until the end of May to respond positively to the request or face the possibility of judicial review.

Maharaj is currently in Grenada representing Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell at the Commission of Inquiry looking into allegations of financial wrongdoing on a trip he made to Switzerland in June 2000. He told GRENADA TODAY Wednesday that the Commission had indicated to him that it was not prepared to reconsider the decision made against Wildman earlier in the year.

He spoke of writing to JLSC pointing out to them that they have a duty to review since the intention is to avoid the matter being brought before the Court. According to Maharaj, he also requested copies of the minutes of the last meeting of the commission as well as the reasons behind former High Court Judge Justice Monica Joseph dissenting on the decision.

The former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago believes that there is still another chance for his client to be appointed to the post. He spoke of being firmly committed to get a judicial review on behalf of Wildman.

"....In judicial review there is a rule of law that if you do not disclose all material facts and if you do not take all steps to get alternative remedy you would not be able to get relief", Maharaj said. "The issue here is whether or not the JLSC acted unlawfully especially in regards to the fact that they based their decision on the Jones e-mail when it was quite clear that e-mail was a fraud", he added.

The former Trinidad and Tobago Attorney General said he believes that the Wildman issue will be a major legal challenge since if it is proven that the JLSC erred then there will be costs involved that will have to be paid by citizens of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). After being rejected by the commission, the Mitchell government appointed Wildman to the post of Legal Counsel to Cabinet.