‘No good reason to throw out case’

PROSECUTOR Carla Brown-Antoine yesterday urged Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls to proceed with the Piarco Airport corruption case, saying the defence had failed to give good reasons why the inquiry should be stopped. Brown-Antoine, who is a deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), said the issues raised by the defence on Tuesday were matters for the trial judge, and not the inquiring magistrate. She asked the court to reject the submissions of the defence and tender the relevant documents into evidence. On Tuesday, the defence asked that a warrant to search the premises of Northern Construction Ltd, along with documents seized, be excluded from the evidence. Fyard Hosein SC said because the warrants were illegally and unlawfully obtained, the inquiry should be stopped. The defence also argued that Justice Peter Jamadar had ruled in 2003 that the search warrant was illegally obtained and that the complainant, Snr Supt Maurice Piggott, had misrepresented the facts to the judge when he sought the warrant.

When hearing resumed yesterday, Brown-Antoine said the defence was asking the Chief Magistrate to overrule his own decision on the same subject. “Your previous ruling was correct and it ought to stand. You stated that the document was admissible and the objections were overruled. That ruling was correct and should be applied in this instance and the warrant admitted into evidence.” Brown-Antoine said the magistrate had no discretion to exclude evidence. This, she added, must be done by the trial judge. She said although Jamadar ruled that the warrant was unlawful, he did not say the warrant could not be used in any other proceedings. She said the judge never ruled that the warrant should be excluded from criminal proceedings.

“Even if the magistrate rejects the warrant, it doesn’t stop the prosecution from applying to the trial judge to have the warrant admitted into evidence.” Brown-Antoine disagreed with Senior Counsel Desmond Allum that prosecution witnesses suppressed evidence. She pointed out that evidence was led and “this must be Mr Allum’s opinion of the witness. There is no such ruling or decision that any witness in this inquiry has suppressed evidence, or was forgetful, or lacked understanding in these proceedings.” The deputy DPP said although the warrant was deemed to be illegal, that was not the end of the matter. On the issue of abuse of process, Brown-Antoine said there was absolutely no basis or solid ground in these proceedings. “It is baseless, groundless.

This is a separate fishing line which has been thrown at these witnesses.” Mc Nicolls said he needed time to give his ruling and adjourned the inquiry to October 6. Eight persons and three companies are charged with a total of 21 offences relating to the new Terminal Development Project at Piarco Airport. They are Brian Kuei Tung and Russell Huggins, former government ministers, Ish Galbaransingh, CEO of Northern Construction Ltd (NCL), Amrith Maharaj, financial comptroller of NCL, John Henry Smith, CEO of Maritime General Insurance Company, Steve Ferguson, chairman of Maritime Group of Companies, Barbara Gomes, company secretary, businesswoman Renee Pierre, Maritime General Insurance Company, NCL, and Fidelity Insurance and Leasing Company Ltd.