Ramjattan’s “more charges” utterance validates PPP’s claims of political witch-hunting – Nandlall

One day after Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said the coalition Administration will continue to prosecute more former Government officials under the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) regime, even if it is perceived as political witch-hunting, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall posited that the Minister’s utterance has reaffirmed his party’s position all along.
“Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has emphatically confirmed what we have been saying all along, that is, that the criminal charges that are being filed against former Ministers and officials of the PPP Government, are politically inspired and driven,” Nandlall asserted.
At a press conference on Friday, Ramjattan admitted he is well aware of the perception that Government was victimising political opponents but he insisted that they will continue along that path.

“I am aware that the prosecution of a predecessor who belongs to a competing political party, is likely to be perceived as politically motivated… We have evidence, it’s warranted and so it will move on,” he said, adding that “otherwise members of this Government may feel the need to practice selling State properties without the lawful procedures. We cannot allow that.”
Last year, several former Government officials including former President and current Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo were hauled in for questioning over the acquisition of lands on the East Coast of Demerara. Moreover, last month charges were brought against former Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh and former National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Chief Executive Officer Winston Brassington by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) in relation to the sale of three plots of lands to investors.
However, Nandlall, who is among the battery of lawyers representing the two former Government officials, pointed out that in a normal democracy, which is governed by the rule of law, the Executive Government and Ministers have no business whatsoever, in the institution and of criminal charges. These matters, he posited, fall within the exclusive remit of the constitutional agencies, that is, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Guyana Police Force, which are functionally autonomous and independent agencies that are strongly insulated in law from any type of political and ministerial influence or interference.
“So how does Minister Ramjattan know that there are more charges to be filed against former Ministers? Does he also know if and what charges are going to be filed by Police against every Guyanese? I am sure he does not. But he knows that charges will be filed against former Ministers because he is part of a political directorate that is instructing behind the scenes, that these charges be filed,” the former Attorney General insisted.
Nandlall went on to remind that Ramjattan had admitted publicly of knocking glasses with British Advisor to SOCU, Dr Sam Sittlington; Head of SOCU, Sydney James; and a diplomat at city nightspot on the evening one day after when Jagdeo along with former Head of Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, former Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and other leaders of the PPP/C were arrested and taken to SOCU.
“When Sittlington’s contract ended, Ramjattan boasted in the press that he will bring him back because he has a lot of work to do. Indeed, Sittlington is now back. Mr Ramjattan is an experienced lawyer. As a result, I know that he knows that what he is doing is wrong. However, hatred, political vengeance and his desire for revenge, have destroyed his objectivity and his sense of reason. But I wish to remind him of an old saying that every rope, no matter how long, has an end,” Nandlall said.