No newcomer to public life

JOHN JEREMIE, the Head of the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, is the new Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago.

Jeremie replaces Glenda Morean, who is heading to London as this country’s High Com-missioner to the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe. Jeremie, 41, is to be sworn in as Attorney General by President Richards on Monday, and a Senator on Tuesday. He obtained his LLB from the University of the West Indies and is a graduate of the Hugh Wooding Law School. He obtained his Masters in Law from King’s College, London University in 1989. He is a partner in the law firm Alexander, Jeremie and Company, of 81 St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain. Jeremie was appointed a Government Commissioner with the Public Utilities Commission in 1994. He was also a Director with Nationwide Insurance Company and the Youth Training and Enterprise Partnership Programme Limited (YTEPP). Until his new appointment, Jeremie had been Chairman of the National Broadcasting Network Limited (NBN) which is now up for divestment.

Jeremie has been involved in several high profile cases, but as a junior attorney. He was a member of the legal team representing the Attorney General in a case brought against the State by Northern Construction Limited (NCL). He also represented the Attorney General in the just-concluded constitutional motion brought by Robinson Crusoe Limited over the acquisition of land comprising Pigeon Point Estate in Tobago. Jeremie was a part of the Attorney General’s team in a constitutional motion brought by members of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) over the Deyalsingh Commission report. Another major legal case for the new Attorney General was the constitutional motion brought by defeated PNM candidates Franklyn Khan and Farad Khan following the general elections results of 2000 for the constituencies of Or-toire/Mayaro and Pointe-a-Pierre.

The Khans challenged the legality of the results of the two seats on the ground that the winners, both from the then ruling UNC, held dual citizenship with other countries. They claimed that the new MP for Ortoire/Mayaro, Winston “Gypsy” Peters had sworn allegiance to the United States, while William Chaitan, the new MP for Pointe-a-Pierre, was a citizen of Canada. Following the dismissal of three MPs from the UNC in October 2001, then Prime Minister Basdeo Panday called fresh elections in 2001 which ended 18-18. The former President, Arthur NR Robinson, appointed Patrick Manning the new Prime Minister and the constitutional motion was eventually withdrawn. Franklyn Khan became the MP for Ortoire/Mayaro following the 2002 elections. Jeremie also appeared in other cases as junior to senior lawyers such as deceased Ewart Thorne SC, and Rolston Nelson SC.