Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, has described the alleged payment of $800,000 to a police constable for footage of the shooting incident outside Senior Superintendent Prem Narine’s home as evidence tampering, arguing that relevant recordings should be obtained through the courts.
Speaking on his weekly Issues in the News programme, Nandlall accused Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed of undermining the criminal justice process through the alleged acquisition of material connected to an ongoing case.
The allegation concerns footage of the incident outside Narine’s Barr Street, Kitty residence. Narine, who heads the Police Force’s Special Branch, is also a witness in the extradition proceedings involving Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed.
Nandlall said Mohamed had publicly sought the release of the footage before showing a video at a press conference.
“And we are told this morning the allegation is that he paid a policeman, bribed a policeman, $800,000 to give him the video,” the Attorney General said.
He argued that the alleged transaction raised questions beyond bribery, including possible interference with evidence and the course of justice.
“This is tampering now. Apart from bribing a police officer, apart from perverting the course of justice because there is a trial in which this thing is going to be evidence, you now have another new set of circumstances surrounding tampering of the evidence,” Nandlall said.
Mohamed’s attorney, Damien DaSilva, has offered a different account, maintaining that his client received footage from several sources, including senior police officers, and did not know the constable allegedly involved.
“At this point, we know of no such allegation of paying any money to any police constable,” DaSilva said in a separate interview following Mohamed’s arrest.
The attorney said the video was a compilation of recordings supplied by different people. Mohamed had not been charged at the time of DaSilva’s remarks.
Nandlall, meanwhile, argued that court disclosure procedures provide a route for defendants to obtain relevant evidence, including material they believe could assist their defence.
“There are simple means that the law provides for that evidence if it is relevant to be produced, if he wants it, if he believes that it can help him,” he said.
“Through the very court system, there is something called disclosures.”
The Attorney General also rejected attempts to characterise the alleged release of evidence as whistleblowing. He argued that information-access mechanisms should not be used to bypass the procedures governing evidence in criminal proceedings.
“When evidence is unauthorizedly taken and handed to a defendant charged with a criminal offence in which that evidence is part of the case against that defendant that is not whistleblowing,” he said.
Nandlall maintained that defendants could publicly discuss their cases, but said interference with witnesses or evidence was unacceptable.
His comments followed the October 12 incident outside Narine’s residence, after which Mohamed and two other men were arrested.
According to the police’s earlier account, Narine saw a car pass his home and return shortly before midnight. He reportedly heard what appeared to be a gunshot, took cover and discharged his service weapon towards the vehicle.
Police subsequently intercepted the car and reported recovering a firearm and ammunition. Criminal proceedings arising from that incident are separate from the investigation into the alleged payment for footage.
Nandlall said further charges could follow the latest allegations, but acknowledged that he did not know the stage the investigation had reached.
