Manning drops lawsuit, changes strategy to deal with Privileges Committee

Patrick Manning on Tuesday dropped his lawsuit that challenged a decision of Parliament's Privileges Committee to limit the role of his lawyers in a matter brought against him. But he is not giving up the fight.

The former Prime Minister and MP for San Fernando East is planning on filing a motion in the House of Representatives to allow his lawyers to speak before the committee.

Manning is before the committee for misleading statements he made in Parliament in November last year about the private residence of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

He went to court to ask for the rules to be changed to give his team powers to cross examine persons at the hearing. However the judge put off a decision saying she needed to be sure that she had jurisdiction to rule on such a matter.

According to the parliamentary rules, lawyers can advise their clients but are not allowed to question any member of the committee. The plan Manning would now pursue is to see if he could give the legal team a voice in the hearings.