CHRAJ Report Not Missing – Attorney General

General News on Tuesday, June 4th, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-06-04

The prosecution denied the disappearance of a report submitted to it by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

Recent reports in the media suggest that a report from CHRAJ to the Department was missing.

However, the OTP responded that the information was false and that the general public should ignore it.

She explained that "two (2) reports from CHRAJ were received by our office in June 2018".

According to the ministry, in a reply, "the two reports were sent under the guise of a letter with the subject". Submission of an investigation report pursuant to subsection 10 (3) of the Whistleblower Act, 2006 (Act 720) ".

She added that "while the first report dated June 7, 2018, received on June 11, 2018, had been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the second report dated June 22, 2018 had been received at the office on June 27, 2018 and forwarded to the Solicitor General for the necessary attention. "

The reply stated that "the CHRAJ report submitted in June 2018 relates to a 2007 contract for the sanitation and waste management improvement program".

He added that the IDC files currently being examined by the Bureau also covered the period between 2012 and 2017 regarding fumigation.

These are two separate issues and our office receives the necessary attention from the CID and the CHRAJ report, "he noted.

He explained that "when the investigative journalist, Mr. Azure, had for the first time an investigation into the report, he stated that a report on Zoomlion had been sent to our office by the CHRAJ ".

According to the reply, a search of the department's data system did not find such a report because the entries made in our system capture the subject as it stands on the bill of lading, the date of the letter and the date of receipt.

He noted "therefore we could not trace" a CHRAJ report on Zoomlion "in our data system as these details were not captured details in the system."

"This can not be interpreted by the slightest effort of imagination if the CHRAJ report is missing," he said.

"At the prosecutor's retreat, said journalist was asked to give us an overview of the investigation he's led."

"After his brief, the department's agents explained to him what it was necessary to carry out a prosecution."

"He promised to provide us with more documents showing proof of payments to the company, but so far, he has not been able to provide us with the promised documents."

"He then directed us to the director of legal services of the Office of the Auditor General for the documents we need and the DPP is in contact with the director, but we still do not have all the documents."

"The ministry continues to work diligently to ensure that the principles of justice are respected in all cases brought before it."

"The ministry also urges journalists to refrain from any hasty attempt to misrepresent the issues so as to provoke public apprehension," he said.