PPP wants “solid explanation” from Dharamlall – Jagdeo

In light of the Police investigation into allegations against People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Member of

Parliament Nigel Dharamlall that he threatened to shoot an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) official, the hierarchy of the Party said they are expecting “solid explanations” from the parliamentarian.
Dharamlall recently came into the lime light after a report was made that he allegedly whipped out his gun and threatened to shoot the official after the individual was seen communicating with his (Dharamlall’s) ex-wife. The Police have confirmed the report and has since launched an investigation. The case file was subsequently sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chambers on May 27 for advise on the way forward and has not been returned to date.
In a statement late Monday night, Dharamlall’s Attorney Glenn Hanoman explained that his client was advised not to comment on the issue, as to not cause interference with or prejudice the investigation.
The Attorney further noted that given the sensational speculations and inaccurate information in the public domain, it must be made clear that his client is “unequivocally” denying any involvement in any criminal act. Nevertheless, on Wednesday, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo told a news conference that “clearly he has to give solid explanations, believable explanations to the Executive of the Party and to us. He has to give those because it is a serious matter, the allegations are serious.”
According to the Opposition Leader, the PPP’s Executive meeting is coming up this Friday and it is expected that members would be briefed by General Secretary Clement Rohee as to the nature of the conversation with Dharamlall.
“I will listen carefully to the issue,” Jagdeo stated, while adding that he would not comment much further on the issue since it may prejudice what takes place in the DPP’s Chambers.
The Leader of the Opposition added, “I guess we will hear from the DDP’s Chambers soon and therefore, we return to this matter at some point in time when it’s not in this delicate stage…”
Moreover, Jagdeo was asked about the fact that the Party already has two sitting parliamentarians who have ongoing cases before the courts. Former Health Minister, Dr Bheri Ramsaran is currently charged for verbally abusing rights activist Sherlina Nageer, while former Public Service Minister Jennifer Westford was slapped with 24 counts of fraud.
The Opposition Leader explained, in relation to Westford, that if any of the audits find any Party member, or anyone as a matter of fact, who is corrupt or has broken the law, then they should be charged.
“The State should proceed to lay charges against them. They would have to use the mechanism of the court to established whether they are innocent or not and the reason why, we have a greater confidence in the court than in the Government being fair because if you at the audits how they started, they were partisan people who were selected to do many of the audits,” he stated.
Jagdeo went on to say that in many of the cases, persons were not given the opportunity to respond to the findings and those who were able to respond, their explanations were not included in the audit reports.