AG Jeremie defends Mille Fleurs repossession

The Ministry of Works’ watchman was evicted and locks put on by the Law Association on the Mille Fleurs building. In addition, the watchman hired and placed there by the Law Association refused to allow the Ministry of Works officials onto the property, saying he was instructed not to allow anyone, “including police officers.” This situation gave the State “no option,” Attorney General John Jeremie told the Senate on Tuesday. Jeremie said the State, which owned the property, got the police officers and “they did not do anything which resembled a display of force. All that was done was that the locks were removed.” Jeremie said the Ministry of Works then went in to do the much need repairs which it had begun the week before.

Jeremie stressed that the Law Association had no offices on the property and was not occupying the property, which was in a deplorable state. Furthermore, he noted, the Law Association had no lease to the building. Saying there were meetings leading up to the Ministry of Works’ repossession of the property, Jeremie said, “This is not something that was done in the dead of the night, unexpectedly, or in a high-handed fashion.” The AG said there were three meetings — one between the Minister of Works and the president of the Law Association; one between the Attorney General and the past president of the Law Association; and one between the Prime Minister and the past president of the Law Association.

Jeremie said when he took his oath of office, it had nothing to do with the Law Association and everything to do with the people of Trinidad and Tobago. On the issue of the San Fernando court, Jeremie said because the Executive found it difficult to schedule work around the timetable of the court, renovation of courts was put in the hands of the Judiciary three years ago. “The San Fernando Court is an illustration of the problem that my colleagues in the Judiciary are experiencing. “The Executive is prepared to assist the Judiciary in the exercise of this new power,” said Jeremie. He added he had been in touch with the Chief Justice and had expressed his wholehearted support for his efforts to refurbish the court and to do what was necessary to bring it up to speed as quickly as possible.