Caribbean Times 46th Issue - Thursday 7th July 2016
Caribbean Times 46th Issue - Thursday 7th July 2016
Caribbean Times 46th Issue - Thursday 7th July 2016
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<strong>Thursday</strong> <strong>7th</strong> <strong>July</strong> <strong>2016</strong> c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g 13<br />
New St. Lucia PM back in legal trouble<br />
CASTRIES, St. Lucia – Allegations<br />
of breach of trust and misfeasance in<br />
public office have come back to haunt<br />
St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet.<br />
Just over a year after a High Court<br />
judge threw out the claim against Chastanet,<br />
the Eastern <strong>Caribbean</strong> Court of<br />
Appeal has reinstated it.<br />
It was on December 10, 2013, that<br />
several allegations were made in a<br />
claim filed by the Attorney General<br />
against Chastanet, as a former government<br />
minister, and Chairman of the<br />
Soufriere Town Council, Kenneth Cazaubon.<br />
wChief among the allegations were<br />
that Chastanet, while a minister of<br />
Government and a candidate for the<br />
United Workers Party (UWP) requested,<br />
advised, received, permitted or acquiesced<br />
in the expenditure of the sum<br />
of EC$38,119 (US$) of public funds of<br />
the Council for the unlawful purpose of<br />
a campaign and political event for his<br />
personal and the political benefit of his<br />
political party, the UWP.<br />
The money had been raised by the<br />
government of St. Lucia, from Taiwan,<br />
for specific community projects. It was<br />
also alleged that Chastanet knew or<br />
Prime Minister Allen Chastanet faces allegations<br />
of breach of trust and misfeasance<br />
in public office.<br />
ought to have known or was recklessly<br />
indifferent to the fact that the conduct<br />
in question was unlawful and that as a<br />
consequence, he acted in a manner that<br />
amounted to a breach of his fiduciary<br />
duties as a minister of Government,<br />
bad faith and/or misfeasance in public<br />
office.<br />
It was further alleged that Cazaubon,<br />
as Chairman of the Council, abdicated<br />
his authority and acted in breach<br />
of his fiduciary duties when he acted on<br />
Chastanet’s request, instruction or direction<br />
and gave instructions to pay, or<br />
caused the Council to pay, public funds<br />
for the unlawful purpose of meeting<br />
expenses of a campaign and political<br />
event.<br />
In a judgment delivered on Monday,<br />
the Eastern <strong>Caribbean</strong> Court of Appeal<br />
held that High Court judge, Justice<br />
Belle, made an error in striking out the<br />
application against Chastanet without<br />
first having a substantial hearing with<br />
evidence on the merits.<br />
“The remedy of striking out is a nuclear<br />
option and should only be utilized<br />
in cases where the pleadings are incurably<br />
bad…The learned judge went too<br />
far and made several findings of fact on<br />
matters that were not before him for determination,”<br />
the court said.<br />
The Court of Appeal therefore sent<br />
the case back to the Supreme Court to<br />
be heard by a different judge.<br />
In a statement following the judgment,<br />
the St. Lucia Labour Party, which<br />
was in power when the claim was made<br />
against Chastanet, welcomed the ruling,<br />
saying that the case had always<br />
only been about “safeguarding public<br />
funds, the issue of good governance,<br />
the fiduciary obligation of public officers,<br />
especially ministers to treat with<br />
public funds in a proper manner and<br />
the abuse of office by public officials<br />
including ministers”. (<strong>Caribbean</strong>360)<br />
cont’d from pg 12<br />
and demonstrators gathered<br />
again Wednesday. A vigil<br />
Wednesday evening drew<br />
hundreds of mourners singing,<br />
praying and calling for<br />
justice.<br />
Quinyetta McMillon, the<br />
mother of Sterling’s teenage<br />
son, trembled as she read a<br />
statement outside City Hall,<br />
where a few dozen protesters<br />
and community leaders had<br />
assembled. Her son, Cameron,<br />
15, broke down in tears<br />
and was led away sobbing as<br />
his mother spoke.<br />
She described Sterling as<br />
“a man who simply tried to<br />
earn a living to take care of<br />
his children.<br />
“The individuals involved<br />
in his murder took<br />
away a man with children<br />
who depended upon their<br />
daddy on a daily basis,” she<br />
said.<br />
A cousin of Sterling’s,<br />
Sharida Sterling, said he had<br />
been selling music there for<br />
about six years, often lugging<br />
his box of CDs, table<br />
and folding chair on two<br />
buses to get to the store.<br />
Sharida Sterling said that<br />
the store management never<br />
had any problems with<br />
him but that he was often<br />
harassed by police - she suspected<br />
because he was black<br />
and a “big guy.”<br />
“I don’t want them to get<br />
away with a slap on the wrist<br />
because it could happen to<br />
somebody else’s brother,”<br />
she said.<br />
In announcing the Justice<br />
Department investigation,<br />
the governor was accompanied<br />
by black Democrats<br />
from Baton Rouge who<br />
praised him and others for<br />
quickly asking the federal<br />
government to get involved.<br />
“We know there’s going<br />
to be an external investigation.<br />
I think it makes all<br />
the difference in the world,”<br />
said state Sen. Regina Barrow.<br />
(AP)