A $23m hot potato

It’s called the $23 million hot potato! Why? No one seems capable of dealing with it. Yes, the $23 million judgment obtained by the State against the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen for the destruction of the old Police Headquarters building on St Vincent Street and the damage to the Red House during the insurrection of July 1990.

Attorney General Glenda Morean-Phillip told the Senate last week that the Muslimeen owes the State $23 million and that instructions have been given to enforce the judgment. But the burning questions on the lips of many citizens are — who is going to enforce the judgment? Who has the political will to do it? Will it be done in this life time? It seems that neither the UNC nor the PNM administration has the “belly” to enforce the judgment. The Muslimeen are so “embedded” in the political life of this country, that to enforce a judgment against the 114 insurgents will take a leader with the testicular fortitude to carry it out. Can the judgment be enforced against the Muslimeen as a group, or against the 114 individuals, some of whom have since been killed?

If the answer to the first part is yes, then the State will have to enforce the judgment at Mucurapo Road. Does the Muslimeen have a $23 million property at Mucurapo? They have just completed a two-storey wing for a new school. There is the mosque which in itself was a controversial issue which led to leader Yasin Abu Bakr going to jail for 21 days for contempt for failing to obey a court order to stop erecting the building. But the construction went ahead anyway. There is also an administration building and a hall which was used as a temporary shelter. If the State can enforce the judgment against individual members, then personal property belonging to the insurgents can be seized. To determine that, the State will have to use considerable resources to track down the property belonging to individual Muslimeen members.

What are the facts of this matter?
On July 27, 1990, the Muslimeen led by Bakr invaded the Red House and TTT in an attempt to overthrow the democratically-elected NAR Government of then Prime Minister ANR Robinson. During their invasion, the Muslimeen blew up the northern entrance of Police Headquarters which led to the eventual destruction of the structure. There was also considerable damage to the Red House which was the scene of a hostage drama situation for the next six days. In that building, the Prime Minister and Government Ministers and MPs were held hostage. One MP Leo Des Vignes was shot and died at hospital. The hostages were released and the insurgents surrendered on August 1, 1990. Sometime in September, 1990, the army moved into Mucurapo and bulldozed the buildings leaving just the mosque standing.

The Muslimeen members, while in jail awaiting trial, filed a constitutional motion against the State for the destruction of their property. The State eventually filed a writ against the 114 insurgents for the destruction of Police Headquarters and damage to the Red House. By that time, Justice Clebert Brooks, presiding in the Port-of-Spain High Court, heard a constitutional motion brought by the insurgents that they could not be tried for any criminal offences because they were the recipients of a pardon by the then acting President Emmanuel Carter. Justice Brooks ruled that the amnesty was valid and ordered the release of the insurgents from jail. The State appealed and lost. The State appealed to the Privy Council which ruled that the amnesty was invalid on the ground that after receiving the Presidential Pardon, the insurgents continued to hold the hostages and make additional demands. But the Law Lords ruled that it would be an abuse of power to re-try the insurgents for offences including murder and treason.

The State really could not re-try the cases as the insurgents were released on a habeas corpus writ and there was no appeal of that order. Since then, under the UNC Government, the law was amended so an appeal of a habeas corpus writ could be filed. After years of hearing, the Muslimeen were awarded $2.1 million. The State also won its case, being awarded $15 million. The Muslimeen collected $1.5 million during the term of the UNC, and the rest of the award from the PNM government in 2002. With each passing day, the interest on the $15 million judgment increases. It now stands at $23 million and building. The issue will remain a political hot potato during the run up to the Local Government Elections.

The Opposition UNC keeps it on the front burner by asking questions in Parliament. On Friday, the issue of the insurrection and the Presidential Pardon cropped up in Parliament again, leading to exchanges between Legal Affairs Minister Camille Robinson-Regis and Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath, one of the hostages in 1990. This went further with exchanges between House Speaker Barry Sinanan and Ramnath. Nearly 13 years have gone by and the issues remain contentious. Just as insurance companies, after all this time, are asking downtown merchants to pay $15,000 for each writ filed against them in the aftermath of the burning and looting of Port-of-Spain. How will it end, no one knows.