Retired army chief gears for court battle

Yesterday, he told Newsday that when the information is made available, he plans to mount a legal battle to clear his name and reputation.

Maharaj was named by former CDS Rodney Smart and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi as the person who made arrangements for Al-Rawi and members of his family to be present at the shooting range at Camp Cumuto on March 27, 2016. Some aspects of the findings of the report were leaked to the media last week in which the Attorney General was said to have been cleared of any wrong doing.

However, a defiant Maharaj said yesterday that at no time did he make any arrangement with the Attorney General to facilitate the visit at Camp Cumuto and neither was he present on the day of the visit.

He said his life has now been turned upside down as a result of the allegations levelled against him and is eager to clear his name. Maharaj said he is consulting his attorneys in preparation for legal battle.

According to Maharaj, he has asked the Defence Force for an apology and retraction but none has been given to date. He said had he been at Camp Cumuto on the day of the visit of the Attorney General and his children, he would not have allowed the children to be photographed brandishing machine-guns.

According to Maharaj, if one looks at the photograph of the children with the guns, they will observe that the magazines were attached to the weapons which means there was ‘live’ ammunition in the weapons.

Several breaches occurred that day. Maharaj reiterated yesterday that he had nothing to do with the visit.

According to Maharaj, correct protocol required that if he was inviting the AG to the Camp he would have written a letter of invitation and the AG would have responded with an acknowledgement that the date suggested was okay.

Protocol also required that on the day of the visit he would have presented himself to receive the AG and his family.

“But I had no idea that they were coming,” Maharaj said. “I was not informed and I was nowhere around.” Maharaj said he only learnt of the visit of the AG and his children at Camp Cumuto long after he had retired when the information became public through the media.