The State is fighting to revive the criminal prosecution of former CLICO boss Leroy Parris, challenging a High Court injunction that bars the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from proceeding against him.
Deputy Solicitor General Marsha Lougheed on Wednesday filed a challenge in the Court of Appeal, asking it to overturn a permanent injunction prohibiting the DPP from prosecuting the former chairman of CLICO Life Insurance Company for alleged theft and conspiracy.
Senior Counsel Roger Forde, who represents the three appellants, Magistrate Manila Renee, the Attorney General and the DPP, contends that case law establishes that a DPP cannot be prevented from prosecuting anyone unless there is evidence of mala fides or exceptional circumstances, according to the court filings.
He argued that Parris’ affidavit evidence in these proceedings does not disclose any mala fides or exceptional circumstances.
Forde said the judge misdirected herself and/or erred in law when there was no evidence to support a finding that the former insurance executive had a cause of action against the DPP to warrant such a ruling.
He said there was also no evidence to justify a finding that Parris had a constitutional right not to be prosecuted on the alleged criminal charges.
The senior counsel also insists that no evidence shows Parris has a right to be protected by an injunction.
Last month, High Court Justice Michelle Weekes quashed Magistrate Renee’s decision to commit Parris to stand trial.
In her judgment, Weekes ruled in favour of Parris’ application for judicial review and made an order of certiorari quashing the magistrate’s decision to commit him to stand trial.
She also prohibited the magistrate from sending any copy of the documents in the case to the DPP and the registrar of the Supreme Court and granted an injunction restraining the DPP from proceeding with the indictment against Parris.
In 2023, Magistrate Renee sought to send the case, in which Parris was alleged to have stolen $3.3m from the now-defunct insurance company, to the High Court.
Parris, through his lawyers, Senior Counsel Hal Gollop and Neil Marshall, filed an application for judicial review and secured an injunction halting the indictment from proceeding.
Renee, the Attorney General and the DPP were listed as respondents in the suit.
Prosecutors initially charged the former insurance executive in 2012, accusing him of stealing $3.33m from CLICO International Life Insurance Limited between December 1, 2008 and April 27, 2009 and of conspiring to defraud CLICO by inducing the company to pay the money to lawyers Thompson and Associates.
The State also alleges that, between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010, Parris was involved in a conspiracy to cheat the Commissioner of Inland Revenue by failing to submit tax returns or account for income taxes for the 2009 tax year, and that, between December 1, 2008, and April 27, 2009, he engaged in money laundering involving the $3.3m.
(EJ)
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