‘Give us info on Richardson, Hansraj’s deaths’

A PUBLIC company is seeking judicial review of the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) not to give any details surrounding the deaths of former Attorney General Selwyn Richardson and Hansraj Sumairsingh, Chairman of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation. Trinidad and Tobago Information Access (TTIC) whose address is listed as Southern Main Road, Carapichaima, filed the application in the Port-of-Spain High Court Registry yesterday. TTIC is pursuing the matter under the Freedom of Information Act. The Attorney General was listed as the respondent. The application was filed by attorney Kulraj Kamta. No date as yet been fixed for the hearing of the application for leave.

Richardson, who was also a Member of Parliament in the NAR Government, was shot dead outside his Cascade home on June 20, 1995. No one has ever been charged for his murder. Sumairsingh was found dead at his Mayaro beach house on December 31, 1999. He was shot to death. Former UNC Minister Dhanraj Singh was charged with his murder, but Singh was acquitted by the jury in October 2003.
TTIC pointed out that there have been competing claims and denials by politicians on both sides of the political divide that the indictment against Dhanraj Singh was politically inspired or linked. The Central-based company said after Singh was acquitted, the following emerged:
(1) Members of the UNC publicly called for an investigation into the circumstances as to the arrest and trial of Dhanraj Singh.
(2) It appeared from the utterances that blame was cast on the PNM for Singh’s arrest.
(3) The then Attorney General Glenda Morean publicly pointed out that the UNC was in power when Singh was charged.
(4) The DPP publicly and firmly insisted that the decision to charge Singh was independent of any politician.
(5) Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, speaking at a public meeting in Barrackpore said there were certain documents which he dared the present AG to release with respect to the Dhanraj Singh case.

In the exercise of the statutory right of access to information, TTIC wrote to the DPP on October 13, 2003 requesting information with respect to the deaths of Richardson and Sumairsingh. The DPP replied on October 29, 2003 declining the request for access, claiming that the documents were exempt in respect to the deaths of Richardson and Sumarsingh. TTIC complained that the DPP in refusing the request, refused to give reasons. The company wants to know if Dhanraj Singh suffered any injustice in his arrest and indictment and trial; or whether the DPP files have information as to the arrest, detention and incarceration of Dhanraj Singh to assist his lawyer to bring a constitutional motion against the State. TTIC wants to know if there is anything which was not disclosed to the defence which would have “shocked the conscience” of the committing magistrate and free Singh, thus lessening the time the former minister spent in jail. The company also wants to know whether there was any prosecutorial error on the part of the DPP in using accomplice witness Elliot Hypolite against Singh.