AG denies Panday treated ‘differently’ to Khan
ATTORNEY General John Jeremie has denied claims by Opposition Senators Wade Mark and Robin Montano that investigations conducted by the Integrity Commission showed disparity in the treatment meted out to former works and transport minister Franklin Khan and former prime minister Basdeo Panday. According to a release from the AG’s office, both Mark and Montano would be aware that deliberations or investigations of the Integrity Commission are, by law, secret, and the commission would be in breach of this law if it responded to the senators’ statements or the status of any other ongoing investigations. On Tuesday, the Senators had called on Jeremie to explain the "apparent disparity." Jeremie, the release said, also made it clear that claims by the senators that Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson had taken a longer time to prefer charges against Khan than he did against Panday, were not true. The record would show that in the case of Panday, the commission wrote the DPP on July 18, 2002, disclosing a bundle of documents and commenting that there were reasonable grounds for suspecting that offences were committed under the 1987 Integrity in Public Life Act, Jeremie said. Panday was not charged until September 18 of that same year. In the case of Khan, Jeremie said, the report of the commission was submitted to the DPP on October 20, 2005, and the charges were laid yesterday.
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"AG denies Panday treated ‘differently’ to Khan"