AG defends Preliminary Inquiry Act yesterday

Attorney General John Jeremie yesterday defended the proposed amendments to the Indictable Offences (Preliminary Inquiry Act) now before the House of Representatives. A release from the AG’s office stated: “It should be noted that the amendments contained in the Indictable Offences (Preliminary Inquiries Amendment Bill 2005) were the result of extensive consultation with all stakeholders in the administration of justice including the executive of the Criminal Bar Association, the police, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Law Reform Commission, spanning two administrations and three committees. The recommendations flow, in the main, from the report of two Cabinet-appointed Committees, the first headed by Justice Lennox Deyalsingh in 1996, the McKay Commission of 2000 and the 2003 findings of a Committee appointed by the Honourable Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago and headed by former Director of Public Prosecutions, Justice Mark Mohammed.

Although informed by the findings of these Committees, the Attorney General also reserves the right to find innovative solutions to the chronic difficulties plaguing the administration of justice in Trinidad and Tobago. Even so the new provisions of the Bill giving the Director of Public Prosecutions the power to prefer a Voluntary Bill of Indictment are not peculiar to Trinidad and Tobago but already exist in several Commonwealth jurisdictions including the Bahamas, St Vincent, Jamaica and the United Kingdom. However, as is proposed in the Bill now before the House of Representatives, in both Jamaica and the United Kingdom the DPP has the exclusive power to prefer voluntary bills of indictment, that is, without first referring to the High Court or a preliminary inquiry.