CONVICTED King’s Counsel Vincent Nelson wants Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, to take steps to have his conviction and sentence set aside, “in the interest of justice."
To do this, he wants the DPP to use the power of his office to appeal his conviction. Nelson’s bold requests were made in a 36-page letter from his attorneys to the DPP on Wednesday.
In the letter, dated March 15, the Jamaican-born attorney says the DPP had a duty to disclose to the court the specific terms of the indemnity agreement between Nelson and the Government. Its disclosure by Gaspard, the attorneys said, would have “inevitably led to the plea agreement being rejected” by Justice Malcolm Holdip, in 2019, because of the promises made to Nelson by former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi for the Government, the letter said.
Nelson is relying on provisions of the Criminal Procedure (Plea Discussion and Plea Agreement) Act, in particular section 31(2), and the DPP’s powers under the Constitution to make his case.
In May 2019, Nelson, 62, a tax attorney who lives in the UK, was indicted on three charges of conspiring to commit money laundering, misbehaviour in public office and conspiracy to commit an act of corruption. The misbehaviour charge was discontinued after he entered a plea deal with the Office of the DPP. Justice Holdip sentenced him in March 2020 and ordered him to pay a total of $2.25 million in fines which he also wants the State to pay.
Those fines become due on April 30. Nelson was ordered by Holdip to pay the fine in monthly instalments over the course of a ten-months beginning at the end of April 2019, or face five years’ imprisonment.
Nelson is yet to pay any of those fines as the payment of all fines, except maintenance, was deferred several times because of the covid19 pandemic. If he fails to pay by April 30, once there is no further deferral, he will have to be extradited to TT to serve his default sentence. The filing of an appeal can put a temporary hold on the payment of the fines, but that will last only until and unless an application for an extension to file an appeal is granted. Then the appeal will have to be listed for hearing.
On October 10, 2022, the DPP announced he was stopping the case against Ramlogan and Ramdeen because Nelson was unwilling to testify until his civil claim against the State came to an end. The letter said Nelson had consistently said he will not give evidence until the government fulfilled its commitment under the indemnity agreement and provide the promised pardon – which was supposed to happen a month after he was sentenced in 2020.
Days before his decision, Gaspard told Newsday, the only discussion or agreement he had with Nelson was the plea deal that was in place.
He said he would not have been privy to any discussions which would have taken place before the criminal investigations were conducted.
Asked about the purported “indemnity document,” Gaspard referred Newsday to the Attorney
