Commission’s Report under Threat of Invalidation
Dean Barrow
Does the lawsuit being brought by the former Minister of Finance, Dean Barrow, mean the fate of the Commission of Inquiry’s report hangs in the balance? Part of the suit being brought against the government will seek to prove that there was an apparent bias in the appointment of Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck when he was named as chair of the commission. His appointment, according to the claimant, is a conflict of interest because the chair of the commission should be independent of personal and political bias. Should the suit be successful, the report published back in January could be voided altogether.
Dean Barrow, Attorney-at-Law
“Because there has been no settlement of my own claim, my lawyer, Naima Barrow, is insisting that everything is on the table, that she wants not just the finding that has been conceded by that other side that my natural justice rights were breached, she also wants a finding that there was procedural impropriety on the part of the commission arising from the fact of the apparent bias of Marshalleck. So all the arguments about his being in a position of conflict because he was lawyer for the prime minister, because he was known to be an activist of the ruling party, all those things are very much in issue and will be ventilated at the trial next week.”
Isani Cayetano
“If this is successful, this will effectively quash and nullify the report…”
Dean Barrow
“Indeed, if Naima is successful in my case, in my view that would mean that the entire report goes. Insofar as Patt is concerned, the report absent the reference to Mr. Patt can stay and we had no difficulty with that because the report does contain some recommendations that I would concede are valuable recommendations but to the price of the government not settling with Naima Barrow in my case possibly will be that if bias is found or apparent bias is in fact found by the judge that may well result in the entire report being quashed. And if it is quashed in my case, even if it is not quashed in Patt’s case it doesn’t matter, it’s gone.”
