‘I was punished for fighting corruption’

FORMER UNC Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC told a United Nations conference in Mexico yesterday that he was punished by then Prime Minister Basdeo Panday because of the stance he had taken to fight corruption among public officials. Maharaj pointed out that the aggressive stand he took caused him to be dismissed from the Office of the Attorney General. “Serious allegations of corruption caused the credibility of the then Government to be seriously tarnished and that caused public confidence in the Government to be shaken.” Maharaj spoke at the United Nations conference in Merida, Mexico yesterday on the topic: “How Attorneys General can and will contribute to implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption.”

Maharaj continued, “I took the position that the Government had a duty to investigate the allegations of corruption establishing Commissions of Inquiry. It was decided that I had to be punished because of the steps that I took for the Government to investigate allegations of corruption against it. “The first punishment inflicted upon me for doing my duty was the withdrawal of part of the portfolio of my ministry. I lost the portfolio of the Anti-Corruption Unit which I had established. It was removed from my Ministry by the prime minister and placed under the Office of the Prime Minister. “The second punishment which was inflicted upon me was the drastic reduction of the annual financial allocations for the administration of my ministry. I continued to insist the Government had a duty to the people to cause the serious allegations of corruption against it to be investigated.” Maharaj said he was aware that his determination to have corruption investigated could have resulted in his dismissal from the Government. After he was fired, Maharaj said the prime minister called general elections and lost. He pointed out that the new Government, while in Opposition, had promised clean Government.

“The new Govern-ment however, did not keep its promise and instead, it has promoted corruption, nepotism, favouritism and political patronage. Governance has not been open and transparent. Official corruption under this Government has become the order of the day,” the former AG added. Maharaj said the promise by political parties in Opposition to fight corruption is commonly used by them as a public relations exercise for them to get into office. “Most political parties and governments appear to lack the passion or commitment to address and redress the corrosive effects of corrupt governance.”

Maharaj told the conference that the present Government has openly refused to implement the nation’s integrity laws. In his address, Maharaj pointed out that Governments deliberately formulate and gear their policies and programmes to remain in office at all costs. “Corruption, political fav-ouritism and nepotism have become the norm. The housing programmes of Governments, their provision of jobs, their award of contracts, their award of scholarships, their administration of health and social programmes are all geared to win votes and even to ‘voter pad’ constituencies so that their supporters would reside and vote in particular constituencies.”