Former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, says President Anthony Carmona does not have the power to revoke the appointment of Police Complaints Authority (PCA) Director David West under the PCA Act as indicated by the Prime Minister.
Maharaj, in an open letter to Carmona on Friday on the controversial matter, told the President that he would be making an error in law if he were to heed the Prime Minister’s call to remove West on the grounds that she gave in her address to the nation on Monday.
“It would therefore be erroneous in law for Your Excellency to revoke the appointment of the director without the conditions of the act being satisfied for the removal of the director from office. Your Excellency does not have the power and the jurisdiction under the act to revoke his appointment,” Maharaj contended in his six-page letter.
Persad-Bissessar had called on Carmona to revoke West’s appointment because he failed to disclose that he was a witness in the defamation lawsuit involving former attorney general Anand Ramlogan and Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley. She also contended that West did not disclose the allegations that Ramlogan had approached him to withdraw his statement in that matter in exchange for the PCA post when he was selected for it.
That allegation is currently the subject of a police investigation. Maharaj, in his letter, informed Carmona that Section 12 of the PCA Act sets out the specific grounds by which the appointment of the PCA director can be revoked.
According to the act the President, acting in his discretion, may revoke the appointment of the director or deputy director where he is satisfied that the person— a) has, without reasonable excuse, failed to carry out his prescribed duties for a continuous period of three months; (b) is unable to discharge the functions of his office, whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause, or for misbehaviour; or (c) has become a person who would be disqualified for appointment pursuant to Section 8.
Maharaj said Persad-Bissessar, in her address to the nation, did not cite any law or Code of Ethics which required West to disclose the matter to the President or the Prime Minister, and it would be an error if Carmona were to revoke West’s appointment. “The Prime Minister has not identified in what way the functions and duties of the PCA would be compromised by the director in the failure by him to inform Your Excellency (Carmona) or the Prime Minister about this matter,” Maharaj wrote.
Maharaj advised that the matters stated by the Prime Minister did not fall within the scope of Section 12 of the act. The former AG advised the President that Persad-Bissessar was asking him (Carmona) to “act without jurisdiction and to act ultra vires to the act” and “this would be contrary to the rule of law.”
He said West had shown “courage, integrity, strength of character and a strong and passionate determination to uphold the highest standards of conduct in public life” and that would appear to any reasonable person as a vindication of his (Carmona’s) appointment of the director.
Maharaj also took issue with Persad-Bissessar’s call for Carmona to conduct a separate independent probe, especially when a police probe had already been launched. Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Harold Phillip is leading the investigation. The former AG said any such probe “could have the effect of frustrating the police investigations and would cause unnecessary delay in the completion of those investigations.” He questioned why the Prime Minister would make such a call.
Maharaj contended that “the appointment of a separate probe to compete with the police investigations can undermine and subvert the police investigations being conducted in respect of the allegations against the former AG (Ramlogan).”