By NAN Contributor
News Americas, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Thurs. Oct. 30, 2014: Guyana Political Party, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), is calling for President Donald Ramotar to fire Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall with immediate effect.
The party, in a statement yesterday, said Guyana “can ill-afford an Attorney General who has publicly demonstrated his unfitness for any public office.”
“His continuation in office is an insult to all Guyanese and brings Guyana into regional and international disdain,” the WPA added.
The statement comes on the heels of an unedited transcript and unedited recording of a telephone call made by Nandlall to a senior reporter of Kaieteur News.
In it, Nandlall is heard purportedly saying that he is aware of a plot by an armed person to invade the newspaper’s offices in retaliation to a number of articles that are being published against certain persons.
The purported voice of the Attorney General is heard repeatedly urging Gildharie to leave Kaieteur News and even submit a proposal to work with an “elite” media team that President Donald Ramotar was putting together.
“My first advice to you is to move out of there. It is a dangerous f……g place to work. It is a dangerous place. I am telling you. Read between the lines. This thing not go on for long. People ain’t go tek this ting so,” Caribbean News Desk quoted the voice as saying. “When you continue attacking people like that and they have no way of responding, dem ah guh jus walk with a weapon into that same f…..g Saffon Street office and wah come suh duh and innocent Peter will have to pay for f….g Paul in deh one day. Me ah tell you honestly- man-to-man- that will happen soon so the quicker you get out ah deh, de better.”
The person, believed to be the Attorney General, also expressed concern that the Kaieteur News Publisher was above the law and was retaliating because he was charged with allegedly evading customs duties on two Lexus vehicles that were imported by a re-migrant couple under the Duty Free Concession Scheme, CND said. “I tell Glen already. He knows my capacity and I know his. Me nah got to go ah court everyday and issue press statement. I don’t have to resort to those methods. There are far more effective methods to which I can resort,” the person was quoted as saying.
You can listen to the recording by clicking https://www.dropbox.com/s/q185btne7y63xn2/anil_kaieteur.MP3?dl=0 and downloading it first.
The Attorney General however, told the Caribbean News Desk that the audio recording of a conversation with himself and Kaieteur News reporter, Leonard Gildharie was edited to make it sound as though he had said things that he had not.
The Guyana Government late Monday night, nevertheless, stood by the Attorney General in the face of the glaring accusation.
“We stand by the Attorney General, as the Government of Guyana goes out of its way to foster peace and goodwill. We believe in the integrity and professionalism of the Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall, and stand by him,” says the administration.
But the WPA is not buying it.
“This decision to rally around Mr. Nandlall makes the PPP complicit in the threats of violence and the improprieties in the obscenity-laden call by Mr. Nandlall, who announced his knowledge of breaches of laws of Guyana by at least two persons as well as a plot to attack the Kaieteur News for the purpose of harming individuals working therein,” the WPA stated. “Had the statements and threats made by Mr. Nandlall been made by an ordinary citizen, it would be bad enough. That they were made by the country’s Attorney-General and Chief Legal Officer is egregious and totally unacceptable. Since there is more than enough evidence of criminality the WPA calls on the Guyana Police Force to undertake a thorough and independent investigation of all the circumstances including the authenticity of the recording.”
Kaieteur News Publisher, Glen Lall and his lawyer, Khemraj Ramjattan have lodged a complaint with two high ranking police officers at Police Headquarters
The Guyana Press Association has called on the Guyana Police Force to thoroughly investigate the complaints made by the Kaieteur News publisher regarding threats to his life, his family and the staff of the Kaieteur News.
