COP leader calls on AG to quit; Panday slams Imbert

The political leader of the Congress of the People (COP) says the people of Trinidad and Tobago must be deeply outraged that the country's legal fraternity has passed a no confidence motion in Attorney General John Jeremie.

And opposition MP Mickela Panday, who was present at Law Association meeting in her capacity as a practising lawyer and member of the association, has slammed works minister Colm Imbert for suggesting that the motion was politically motivated.

In a news release Thursday Winston Dookeran said his party expects Jeremie to resign, thereby reaffirming the integrity of the office of the Attorney General.

"In normal democratic tradition, the Attorney General would heed to the voices of the members and immediately remove himself from being the titular head of the profession, a position of highest public trust and he must resign from that position immediately," Dookeran said..

He added that if Jeremie fails to quit all future prosecutions pertaining to politicians could be seen as tainted and manipulated with the present Attorney General in office.

Panday, who is the daughter of opposition leader Basdeo Panday and MP for Oropouche West, issued a strongly-worded release Thursday that condemned and rejected "the vicious and malicious attack against her and against the integrity of the Law Association" by Imbert in the aftermath of Wednesday's no confidence vote against Jeremie.

She said Imbert’s response is characteristic of his "distraction tactics whenever he cannot legitimately and sensibly defend his government".

Imbert has suggested that Panday attended in her capacity as an Opposition politician and the daughter of the opposition leader Basdeo Panday and that her mere presence and that of other openly politically active lawyers invalidates the work of the Association.

"By trying to portray the no confidence vote in Mr Jeremie as political, Minister Imbert is seeking to trivialize the serious concerns of the entire legal fraternity about the Attorney General’s ability to effectively and without bias execute his duty, the consequential threat to democracy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms and rights of citizens, and the lack of willingness of many to work with Mr Jeremie," Panday said.

Panday is a qualified practicing attorney and is duly registered with the Trinidad and Tobago Bar. She is a member of the Law Association, which is the representative body for attorneys of the local Bar.

She said all the attorneys at the meeting had a right to be present, to hold an opinion and to exercise their democratic right to participate in all activities of the association.

"Minister Imbert needs to recognize that expression of opinion is a pillar of democracy. It is ludicrous for Minister Imbert to suggest that everyone who does not support the PNM is biased and their views irrelevant while everyone who does support the PNM is objective and relevant," she said.

The fact that some of the attorneys present at the meeting are active politicians is irrelevant, she noted.

Panday said the facts are that the majority of attorneys present voted that they have no confidence in Jeremie and strongly condemned his attempts to interfere with the work of the Director of Public Prosecution, an office which should be politically independent.