Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, has rejected claims that the High Court granted unrestricted family visits to Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed at the Lusignan Prison, warning that falsely presenting a document as a court order could amount to a serious criminal offence.
Nandlall’s remarks follow allegations by Mohamed’s sister, Hana Mohamed, that prison authorities were refusing to comply with a court directive permitting family members to visit her brother daily.
During an interview aired on the National Communications Network (NCN), the Attorney General maintained that no such order was issued during the High Court proceedings, insisting that he was personally present when the matter was heard.
“I have appeared in the court proceedings that such an order could have emanated from. So I don’t have second-hand information. I was present in the court proceedings,” Nandlall stated.
He further declared: “We had one date of hearing. No such order was made.”
The Attorney General said he had received information that Mohamed’s sister was displaying a document she purported to be a court order authorising unrestricted access to the Opposition Leader.
However, he questioned the authenticity of that representation, arguing that no individual has the authority to attribute a ruling to the judiciary that was never made.
Nandlall cautioned that knowingly misrepresenting a court’s decision or presenting a forged document as an authentic judicial order could attract criminal consequences.
He pointed specifically to the possible offences of uttering a forged document and interfering with the administration of justice.
According to Nandlall, should police investigate the matter and sufficient evidence emerge to support criminal charges, any resulting prosecution would have to be considered in accordance with the law.
The dispute emerged after Hana Mohamed publicly complained that family members had been prevented from visiting the Opposition Leader despite what she described as permission granted by the High Court on November 4.
She claimed that prison officials had refused access on three consecutive days, raising concerns about her brother’s welfare and treatment while in custody.
During the November 4 proceedings before Justice Priscilla Chandra-Haniff, the High Court directed that Mohamed’s attorneys be given access to him to prepare an additional affidavit in support of his challenge to the magistrate’s refusal of bail.
