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Sook refutes Sedi

GeneralSook refutes Sedi
Former Director of Public Prosecutions, Lutchman Sooknandan, 60, demitted office on Monday, May 12, 2008, and after receiving $175,000 in settlement, returned to private practice at his law firm, a stone’s throw away from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on Barrack Road, Belize City.
 
Today, no replacement has been appointed, his intended successor is on maternity leave until June, and questions continue to be raised as to the manner in which he resigned from his two-year contractual obligation.
 
In last weekend’s edition of Amandala, dated May 25, 2008, we carried an article titled, Former DPP, Sooknandan, got settlement package of $175,000; Case load was too big for Sooknandan, says AG Elrington. Amandala received a phone call from Sooknandan on Friday, saying that he wishes to refute Elrington’s claims.
 
In an interview with Amandala on Friday, Sooknandan confirmed that he did receive $175,000 to demit office. He deems the settlement a “favorable” figure. He told us that he had only 7 months more to go on his contract – not one and a half years, and his contract would have expired in December. His annual salary, he told us, was $100,000.
 
But Sooknandan contends that he did not plan on leaving, and it was not until he had a meeting with Attorney General, Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, in early April that such talks ensued.
 
“First of all, he [Elrington] came to my office on Barrack Road, on the 12th of April—that was his first and last visit ever to that office, and he categorically told me that he wants me to demit office by the end of April,” said Sooknandan.
 
Sooknandan went on to say that he was hoping to discuss the matter of staffing with the Attorney General, because even though the case load, especially for murder cases, has increased tremendously, there are only five Crown Counsels, and a high turnover rate places the office at a serious disadvantage.
 
Strangely, the conversation took place in the presence of former Leader for Government Business under the Said Musa (PUP) administration – attorney Dickie Bradley. What was Dickie doing there?
 
Elrington had told us that Dickie had approached him in front of the courthouse and raised the matter of the DPP’s position with him.
 
Sooknandan corroborated that Dickie and Sedi did have a discussion, but he contends that he did not put Dickie up to it. He claims that even if they – Dickie and Sedi – arranged to meet up at his office, he didn’t know that they had talked.
 
“He [Elrington] came and met me and Dickie in the office,” said Sooknandan. “I don’t know who invited him [Elrington]… He further said to me that he has in mind to replace me with my deputy.”
 
As we had reported last week, the Barrow administration has plans to replace Sooknandan with Deputy DPP, Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt, who is on maternity leave until June.
 
“He said to me give me a proposal; I said OK,” stated Sooknandan, adding that he sent off his proposal two days later.
 
Amandala inquired what his proposal said. Sooknandan told us that he had indicated that, “I will accede by April, but I want certain conditions: for me to be adequately paid to demit office.”
 
Via letter from the Solicitor General, he received an offer for $75,000, which he did not immediately take up, but queried what that $75,000 was to cover. He said that he did not receive a reply to his query, but Prime Minister Dean Barrow entered the negotiations, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, and the deal was closed on Thursday, May 8.
 
At around the same time, criminal charges were being pursued against the Belize Bank. It had been reported as early as May 6, 2008, that there were criminal charges in store for Belize Bank with respect to 79 incidents under the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act. Sooknandan told us that he was never consulted with respect to that case, even though attorney for the defendant, Eamon Courtenay, has argued that the direction of the DPP is required if the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) wants the case to be tried on indictment in the Supreme Court.
 
 “I was not told anything about any charges that were going to be brought against the Belize Bank. I was never contacted. I never saw any file,” said Sooknandan. “I don’t know whether not sending the file, was deliberate. I cannot say.”
 
The former DPP told us that a case involving the magnitude of funds in question [one charge stipulating tens of thousands of US dollars] should generally be lodged in the Supreme Court, where the defendant would face stiffer penalties, but, he said, it depends on all the facts of the case –which the DPP should have been asked to advise on.
 
Since we were unable to get an explanation from the FIU and its attorney as to why charges were dropped against Belize Bank president, Phil Johnson, we asked Sooknandan to venture an opinion why this would have been done. He told us that joining Johnson to the Bank in the matter would have implied his participation in the transactions, whereas not charging him insinuates he was not involved.
 
We underscore that the change in DPP is taking place at a critical and sensitive time, even as the new administration has some high profile cases to pursue, involving the loss of millions in public funds and assets under the former administration.
 
Of note is that the last pending matter of public interest on Sooknandan’s desk was the case of former Prime Minister Said Musa and former chief executive officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amalia Mai. Sooknandan said that a package of papers was forwarded from Central Government to his office regarding the diversion of the $20 million Venezuelan grant funds, but he was on his way out of office, and so he did not touch the case. He told Amandala that had he remained, he would have prosecuted the case himself.
 
With respect to the Joe Coye case, involving the sale of the Putt Putt lands, Sooknandan said that while he did meet with Police Sr. Superintendent, James Magdaleno, one Saturday at his home, he had instructed Magdaleno “how to go about investigating the matter” and to return the file to him when he is done “to vet the file.” Sooknandan says that up to the time he was leaving office, no file was sent to him.
 
Sooknandan told us that he had cautioned Magdaleno “to investigate, because the case will not hold up and it will be a serious embarrassment.” He said that subsequent to Coye’s arrest, Magdaleno had informed him that the order to arrest came from the Commissioner.
 
The Director of Public Prosecutions has tremendous power to initiate or take over certain criminal proceedings, and in key cases his written directives and consent are required before prosecution starts.
 
The reason why our newspaper contacted Attorney General Elrington was to find out what was being done to install a replacement for Sooknandan, as the importance of the DPP’s involvement in the Belize Bank case was raised in proceedings earlier this week.
 
Elrington had told us that the Government would sort out their proposal to have Taitt take office, by the end of this week.
 
The last man who held the office of DPP before Sooknandan was Kirk Anderson, who, Sooknandan said, did not have a contract but had security of tenure. Anderson served for four years and left on December 28, 2006, returning to his home country, Jamaica, after receiving a settlement of $100,000.
 
Sooknandan told Amandala that when he came to Belize, it was to work in the Office of the DPP in 1986. He was not intending to stay, but since then he has become a citizen. He also holds permanent residence in Canada and the U.S.
 
Sooknandan told us that he was not “pressured” to leave, but he decided to tender his resignation after he was offered a settlement he was happy with.

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