PNM broke the rules in appointing director of Financial Intelligence Unit: AG Ramlogan

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Attorney General Anand Ramlogan told the Senate Tuesday the Manning PNM government made "an unsuitable appointment" when it handed David West the job of Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

Ramlogan was at the time speaking in the debate on the amendment to the FIU bill. He said the legislation seeks to make the FIU an independent body that would be free of political interference.

He added that the legislation would stipulate that the director be someone in the public system, "known and respected within the public service".

In that context he spoke about the appointment of West, which he said represented a "glaring" conflict of interest, since West was an attorney in private practice who was a legal consultant "on a monthly retainer" from the Attorney General's office.

"So here it is you had someone who was not a public officer, selected by the PNM Cabinet to receive confidential financial information from financial institutions and the person reports directly, wearing a different hat, to the Attorney General of the very administration and all along at the same time, being in private practice," Ramlogan said.

"He reported to the Attorney General as a consultant for the Central Authority and at the same time in private practice, he was in a position of determining in his discretion whether information received and analysed by international financial FIU should be submitted for further investigation to the Commissioner of Police or the Director of Public Prosecutions."

Ramlogan made it clear that he was not casting aspersions on West or his ability as a competent attorney at law. "But what we could not do is to put Mr West in the unenviable, embarrassing and even illegal position of appointing him to serve as the Director of the FIU," he said.

PNM Senator Fitzgerald Hinds pointed out that West worked in the public sector for many years and that he had heard no negative comments about West's performance.

Ramlogan responded by telling Hinds that he missed the point, noting that the PNM undermined the Financial Intelligence Act. "Mr West was not able in law to concurrently perform all three functions," Ramlogan said.