T&T PM says Attorney General offers to quit; opposition calls it a hoax

Trinidad and Tobago's Attorney General John Jeremie has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Patrick Manning, less than a week after the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago passed a non-binding vote of no confidence in him.

But Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who was reported to have confirmed he had received Jeremie's resignation, denied saying so.

"I never said that. I said that he had offered his resignation. He explained that Jeremie is in London adding that "when he gets back we will talk. We will talk again."

Manning advised reporters that there is a difference between someone "offering" a resignation as opposed to "tendering" it.

Jeremie was brought back from his post as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to London for his second stint as Attorney General to replace Brigid Annisette-George, who quit suddenly.

He has been under pressure from politicians and the legal fraternity from the day he returned home. The pressure increased after embarrassing revelations in a series of investigative reports in the Express newspaper.

One letter published in the paper unveiled correspondence between Jeremie and the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson in 2006 over a number of high profile cases, including that of former prime minister Basdeo Panday.

Read the story: Jeremie tried to force DPP to charge Panday, Duprey

One letter from Henderson to Jeremie published in the paper said:

“I am not subject to your directions. Your continued efforts to have me initiate charges against certain persons are highly improper and should they continue can imperil the successful prosecution of any charge initiated in the matters under investigation”.

Read the story: Law Association passes no confidence in Attorney General

Last week, Manning called the lawyers' decision a political one and promised a full statement on the matter.

“That is politics, when I get back to Trinidad I will deal with those matters. But that in fact speaks more of the composition of the legal profession in the country than it speaks about anything about the Attorney General,” Manning told reporters in Guyana at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit.

That same sentiment was expressed by cabinet minister Colm Imbert, who sneered at the lawyers, calling their vote political.

His comments prompted angry reactions from one of the lawyers who voted for the motion, opposition MP Mickela Panday, daughter of opposition leader Basdeo Panday, and also from Winston Dookeran, leader of the Congress of the People.

"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 in a news release last week.

And Panday also rebuffed Imbert, accusing him of trying "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."

Read the story: COP leader calls on AG to quit; Panday slams Imbert

Speaking with reporters outside Parliament Friday Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar called the whole issue another "hoax" by Manning to distract attention from serious national issues, such as the postponement of Logcal Government Elections.

Her colleague, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner agreed. "This is a hoax, man, come on, please, it is not the first time they try to fool us," he said.

"I tell you if it is sincere, then what the Prime Minister has to do now is to rush up to Washington and bring Glenda Morean and have them recycled as it were, because he losing, I mean he running out of options," Warner added.

"This is not a conspiracy, you know, don't fool yourself. Jeremie did what he believes is the honourable thing, to offer his resignation, and the Prime Minister would refuse it and they believe abracadabra, everybody will be satisfied and we go back again because this is a seven-day country."