The letter, addressed to the Registrar of the Commission, Martin Farrell, is the continuing fallout from a meeting which took place between Gordon and Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley at Gordon’s private residence on May 15. The letter said the meeting between Gordon and Rowley, coming five days before the no-confidence motion on the Prime Minister and the Government, “must erode the appearance that justice by this commissioner may not be administered evenhandedly, in treating with members of the Government as opposed to members of the Opposition”. The letter noted neither Gordon nor Rowley reported on the meeting until Leader of Government business Dr Roodal Moonilal revealed there was a “secret” meeting between Rowley and a person in high office at the latter’s home. Only then did Gordon release an aide memoire on the meeting, the letter stated. “The fair-minded observer is bound to take into account that no one but the chairman and the Leader of the Opposition can say what occurred at the meeting, and that they would effectively constitute the chief accuser, on the one hand, and the chief judge, on the other, about the allegations made by the former in respect of which he met with the latter,” the letter stated. The letter said the meeting must have been in breach of Section 7 (2) of the Integrity in Public Life Act, which requires that the registrar “shall” attend all meetings of the commission. Seetahal’s letter also underlined the fact that the chairman, in an interview with the Express on June 19, 2013, stated: 1) he knew “absolutely” that he did the right thing 2) the allegations of the Attorney General that the meeting was part of a conspiracy by high office-holders (to remove the Government) was the “height of absurdity”. “The chairman in his interview also appears to prove himself to be intractable, even in the face of balanced criticisms (such as by the Law Association which termed it “wrong and highly improper”) of his decision to meet with the Leader of the Opposition; and hostile in response to my client’s criticisms (whether with merit or otherwise).”
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 11:20:49 +0000
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