TT: As Paul Keens would say, jus' like dat!

A REPORT pertaining to the execution of a search warrant relative to the Piarco Airport Corruption Inquiry has gone missing. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the report was necessary to inform a judge of what had taken place before and after the execution of the warrant. The report, which had been prepared by Snr Supt Maurice Piggott, had not been included in the files sent to both the defence and the prosecution by the DPP. The absence of copies of the report in both files and the fact that neither prosecutors Gilbert Petersen SC nor Deputy DPP Carla Brown-Antoine had actually seen the document, caused defence attorney Frank Solomon SC to question its existence. 

However, Petersen confirmed that fellow prosecutor Elaine Greene had seen the report. After heated arguments between both sides regarding disclosure of the document, Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls told Petersen the defence was entitled to see the report and the prosecution’s claim that they did not have a copy was “not good enough.” In response to a question by the Magistrate about the efforts that had been made to retrieve the document, Petersen said he had been instructed that the report had been forwarded to a judge at the High Court by Piggott and searches for copies of the document had been carried out. He said the DPP had indicated that he had no copies. This response prompted defence attorney Reginald Armour SC to remind the State of its responsibility regarding the issue of disclosure. “The prosecutors have an obligation to play with cards face up on the table relative to disclosure,” the attorney said. “It is their responsibility to find that document and disclose it,” he concluded.
Petersen, reminding the defence that his side was faced with “the same hurdle,” promised that if the document existed, the defence would have copies of it. 

The matter was stood down for about 45 minutes while the prosecution deployed a representative to the nearby High Court to try to retrieve the report and another document that had been used during the investigation leading up to the arrest of former government Ministers Brian Kuei Tung and Russell Huggins; CEO of Northern Construction Ltd (NCL), Ishwar Galbaransingh; financial comptroller of NCL, Amrith Maharaj, CEO of  Maritime General Insurance Company, John Henry Smith, chairman of the Maritime Group of Companies, Steve Ferguson and company secretary, Barbara Gomes.

When hearing resumed at 11 am, it was revealed that the report had not been found and was in the possession of Justice Stanley John. Regarding the other document, it was revealed that the identity of the police officer who had been in charge of it was unknown.