By Andre Bagoo Thursday, July 24 2008

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John Jeremie...

FORMER Attorney General John Jeremie yesterday dismissed calls to have him probed by the police over his involvement in a controversial land deal involving Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls which was at the heart of allegations of misconduct against former Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma.

In an interview with Newsday from his office at the Trinidad High Commission in London, Jeremie said he would not get involved in any controversy over a July 18 letter sent from president of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) Desmond Allum SC to Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson.

Allum, in his letter of July 18, and the CBA in a previous letter dated April 5, 2007, had called for a probe into Jeremie’s role in facilitating the repurchase of a parcel of land at Millennium Park that was in the hands of the Chief Magistrate. Allum at one stage represented Sharma in criminal proceedings.

Jeremie said yesterday that no new facts have been disclosed in Allum and the CBA’s calls which warrant an investigation.

“I have seen absolutely nothing new,” Jeremie said. He said he had been cleared by previous police investigations. “All of those things have been investigated at my request. There have been several investigations. The police investigated at my request.”

Jeremie said ACP Wellington Virgil had investigated the allegations against him before he retired as head of the Fraud Squad.

Jeremie, who has been made London High Commissioner, said he could not comment on the matter because of his diplomatic status.

“I don’t have too much to say, I can’t. I am a diplomat and I am not expected to get involved in every storm on the ground,” he said.

Vice president of the Law Association Hendrickson Seunath SC has supported the CBA’s call, noting that in his personal opinion the matter ought to be probed for the sake of transparency.

Jeremie said it is for Henderson to respond to the CBA’s letters.

“He (the DPP) is quite capable of taking care of this himself. Speak to the DPP and ask him for his response to it,” he said. Asked what was his role in the controversial land transaction, which, according to the CBA, saw Mc Nicolls receive a cheque for $400,000 on the very day he gave a statement against Sharma, Jeremie offered no comment.

“I can’t talk about that to any degree of substance,” he said.

As noted in the CBA’s letters, the deal was reported to have centred around interactions between Jeremie, former Clico executive and PNM treasurer Andre Monteil and Anthony Fifi, a director of Home Construction Limited.

Newsday understands that Henderson is in the process of drafting a response to Allum’s letter of July 18. “I have no comment to make except to say that I will respond in writing,” he said on Tuesday in a text message.