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  • 10 months ago
Attorney General Reginald Armour says it was parliament's error in not uploading the full Stanley John Report. Among the recommendations of the report is transferring staff of the Solicitor General's department and replacing the acting Solictor General.
Transcript
00:00Attorney General Senior Counsel Reginald Amor says he's not responsible for the partial
00:05laying of the Stanley John report on Tuesday.
00:09Responding to queries from TV6, the AG says he sent the interim report to the Senate clerk
00:14at the same time as the final one and they admitted that they omitted to upload it.
00:21The AG says he neither omitted nor deliberately did not lay the interim report.
00:27The interim report was shared with media at 7.45 on Tuesday evening and details what
00:34happened to the missing file in the malicious prosecution case involving the nine men accused
00:40of murdering Vindra Naipaul Kulman.
00:43The file was received by the registry at the Solicitor General's office on Level 17 of
00:49Tower C on June 22, 2020 and was placed with other files to be delivered to the Chief State
00:57Solicitor's office just one level up on Level 18 of the same tower.
01:03The report says when delivered, all files were received and recorded except the file
01:09in question, CV 2020-01243.
01:14The Solicitor General at the time became aware of the matter in July of 2021 and when she
01:20inquired of the registry, she was told it could not be located.
01:25One month later, the file was discovered on the Deputy Solicitor General Neil Byam's
01:30desk in his office, but his office was at the time unoccupied as he demitted office
01:37earlier that year and it was instead used to store files stacked in boxes.
01:42The investigative team noted when informed, the Solicitor General at the time took no
01:47action to find out why the file was deliberately placed there.
01:52The report reads, quote, we would have expected her to act with a level of dispatch to have
01:57the file secured and or immediately brought to her.
02:01She also failed to take any steps to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the disappearance
02:07and subsequent discovery of the file, end quote.
02:11And no effort, the Stanley John team says, was made by the acting Solicitor General to
02:16inform the Attorney General of the serious matter.
02:20The report says it is likely it was secreted in the office of the now deceased Deputy Solicitor
02:26General Byam by someone attached to the Solicitor General's department.
02:32It took almost one year for a temporary file to be reconstituted in May of 2022.
02:40The Stanley John investigative team found there was ineptitude and incompetence by the
02:46Solicitor General and chief solicitor's departments.
02:50The malicious prosecution claim, it said, came during the COVID-19 pandemic when staff
02:55worked on a rostered basis and there were irregularities in daily duties.
03:01But the Stanley John investigative team notes, quote, it is no excuse for the total failure
03:07to protect the interest of the state in this matter, end quote.
03:11It also found there was lackluster interest shown by staff in the office of the chief
03:16state solicitor to ensure the Solicitor General's department was made aware of the first hearing.
03:23Such inefficiency in the performance of duties, it says, was compounded by the absence of
03:29any concern shown by the office of the Solicitor General.
03:34In their recommendations, the team said government should consider if the acting Solicitor General
03:39is the right person for the post.
03:42They should also consider installing security cameras at the registry of the Solicitor General's
03:47department.
03:48A data entry clock, they say, should be immediately appointed to scan and upload all files brought
03:54to the Solicitor General's department.
03:57Proper background checks, they say, should be done on all staff recruited to the Solicitor
04:02General's department and staff attached to the Solicitor General's department who failed
04:08in their duty to the state should be transferred.
04:11Arvishi Tiwari, Rupnurain, TV6 News.
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