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

Former Attorney General (AG) of Trinidad and Tobago, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj has given the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) until the middle of May to give reasons for turning down government's nomination of controversial Jamaican Attorney at-Law Hugh Wildman to the post of Attorney General in Grenada.

The Commission rejected government's recommendation amidst a one month strike by members of the Grenada Bar Association (GBA) to protest the planned appointment.

The lawyers shut down the local courts in February at the start of the assizes and prepared a dossier which they presented to JLCS members and other organisations in the country on Wildman's alleged misconduct in public 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 named a public officer close to the ruling New National Party (NNP) administration of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell as being very expensive.

Maharaj who has been retained by Wildman to challenge the JLSC decision noted that the body cannot make a decision based on politics. The former T&T Attorney General and his client met with reporters at the Grand Beach Resort in the south of the island on Monday. Maharaj charged that the Commission penalised his client based on his style of practice.

"You cannot penalise a man for being aggressive or have a style that is aggressive or because he criticizes public officials", he told reporters. He claimed that the commission acted unlawfully by turning down government's appointment since it was correct and within the law.

When asked by reporters to respond to the e-mail issue, Maharaj pointed out that Jones had already written to government denying the allegations made against his client. "I saw the e-mail and also saw the letter and in any event the JLSC if they had to rely upon that e-mail will have to ensure that it was authentic. They did not take any steps to ensure that it was authentic", he remarked.

The top T&T lawyer pointed out that based on law, Wildman does not have to prove his innocence since he is presumed to be innocent and that those who are making the allegations must ensure that those allegations are well founded.

Maharaj said that if the JLSC fails to respond by the deadline date given then he will institute judicial review proceedings against the body. He gave assurances that his legal services on the Wildman matter are free but that his client will only have to pay his travel and accommodation expenses.

Special Prosecutor Hugh Wildman who spoke on the issue said that the decision to turn down his nomination is irregular and a breach of all the tenets of natural justice.

According to Wildman, his Legal Counsel is expected to do everything within the confines of the law to vindicate his character and restore his reputation.
He said that the Jones correspondence had exonerated him of any wrong-doing which he was accused of by the Bar and was used by JLSC to reject him for the post of AG.