Afra Raymond knocks Govt silence on Invaders’ Bay project

Raymond in a release yesterday said the State was now appealing the matter “with the consent of the JCC”.

“Whilst in Opposition, the PNM made repeated, vocal protests on the secretive conduct of the Invaders’ Bay development by the People’s Partnership. Now in Government, the PNM seems to have elevated secrecy in public affairs to a new prominence,” Raymond said in his statement.

“Since Dr James Armstrong was appointed JCC President in December 2015, that organisation has been silent on the Invaders’ Bay matter.

“This had previously been of high importance as a major development in our capital city, which was proceeding illegally and improperly,” he said.

He further noted that it now appeared that the JCC has “reversed its earlier position of pressing for publication of those vital and suppressed documents.” On Monday, Justice of Appeal Nolan Bureaux, Gregory Smith and Peter Rajkumar granted leave to the State to challenge the two previous rulings in which the courts found that the Ministry of Planning’s decision to refuse publication of the information was null and void, and of no effect.

Raymond, as then JCC president, in 2013, filed the judicial review lawsuit after he unsuccessfully made several requests for information on the project under the Freedom of Information Act.

Both the high court and appellate court had ruled in his favour, paving the way for the ministry to publish the legal advice it received in the proposed development of Invaders’ Bay.