A purported agreement to indemnify Jamaica-born King’s Counsel Vincent Nelson from civil and criminal prosecution in return for a notarised statement has led to the collapse of the corruption kickback charges against former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, and former UNC senator Gerald Ramdeen.
On Monday, Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, announced the State’s discontinuation of the charges against Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
Gaspard made the announcement on Monday when the two men re-appeared virtually before Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle Caddle just after 1 pm. Ramlogan appeared from London where he argued an appeal earlier in the morning. When contacted, the former attorney general opted not to comment on the collapse of the case.
At Monday’s hearing, just as the chief magistrate was making inquiries about the filing of evidential objections, Gaspard interjected, announcing the State’s position.
He said the decision was taken after “anxious consideration.”
Gaspard explained the State’s case was largely dependent on the testimony of Nelson.
However, Gaspard said Nelson has said he was “categorically” not willing to give evidence in the preliminary inquiry against the two until the conclusion of a civil claim he (Nelson) has against the Attorney General.
In that civil claim (CV oo408 of 2022), filed in May this year, Nelson is seeking damages for breach of an indemnity agreement signed between himself and former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi.
Newsday was told Nelson’s claim has been sealed, but Gaspard said Nelson is alleging indemnity was given to him in return for his providing a statement concerning “this case” against Ramlogan and Ramdeen.
Newsday, in October 2021, reported exclusively on the alleged indemnity agreement between Nelson and Al-Rawi.
According to a signed document, Al-Rawi purportedly did so on behalf of the Government.
There were also certain promises made which included not making any disclosure of the information to any criminal investigator, prosecuting authority, tax enforcement authority, or disciplinary authority outside TT.
It was agreed that the statement and records will be provided to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau.
The “indemnity” document was signed by both Al-Rawi and Nelson in October 2017 and subsequently initialled by both men in 2019.
At the time, Gaspard told Newsday he knew nothing about the purported agreement.
Newsday understands that Nelson is seeking 12,163,460 British pounds in damages for the alleged breach of indemnity.
Newsday was told the State paid for Nelson’s criminal matter which was heard in March 2020. He was fined $2.25 million by then High Court judge Malcolm Holdip after he pleaded guilty to two corruption charges stemming from the alleged conspiracy involving Ramdeen and Ramlogan. He was also placed on a bond to keep the peace for a period of three years, or in default, serve two years of hard labour. As part of the deal, he agreed to turn state w
