October 23, 2020
Attorney Nigel Hughes today told the Court that Mr. Datadin is a sitting Member of Parliament for a political party in a case that will clearly have political consequences and he, therefore, cannot be expected to execute his job as Prosecutor in a fair manner.
PPP Member of Parliament Sanjeev Datadin has been appointed as a Special Prosecutor in the Police criminal charges filed against the Chief Election Officer and the Deputy Chief Election Officer and the Attorneys representing the two officials have objected to the move.
Attorney Nigel Hughes today told the Court that Mr. Datadin is a sitting Member of Parliament for a political party in a case that will clearly have political consequences and he therefore cannot be expected to execute his job as Prosecutor in a fair manner.
“Mr. Datadin is a sitting MP for the Government and the People’s Progressive Party and to give him the responsibility of prosecuting a matter which is highly political in nature and which Mr. Hannoman agrees has political consequences, we believe is a poor exercise of great discretion, but more importantly all prosecutors have a responsibility for fairness, they have no interest in conviction, they have a responsibility for fairness and part of that responsibility is that they must bring all information to the Court whether its in favour of their case or against their case…we believe that the appointment of a sitting government MP as a prosecutor completely violates all of those”, Hughes argued.
Mr. Hughes also objected in Court today to the Prosecution’s request for the entire trial for the two GECOM officials to take place in the Magistrates’ Court. He said the charge is against the people of Guyana and therefore his clients prefer for a Judge and jury of their peers in the High Court to determine the case.
The Magistrate has asked for submissions to be made in relation to the objections raised by Attorney Nigel Hughes.
The investigation into allegations of electoral fraud is still ongoing by the Police.
