The Panday rollercoaster continues to provide the most amazing and exciting political ride in the PNM’s amusement park. His victory in the Court of Appeal is the climax of one of the most sinister political plots in the history of Caribbean politics.
Panday sharpened his political axe at a time when most thought it was rusty beyond repair, and exposed an incredible conspiracy involving the highest offices in the nation, designed to eradicate him from the politics and ensure that he is treated by historians as nothing more than a pathetic criminal. Imagine the AG meeting with the Chief Magistrate, during the course of Panday’s trial, to offer advice on the thorny issue of the latter’s involvement in a lucrative real estate deal. The AG indicates that he will conduct an investigation (pursuant to non-existent powers), but states that he will refrain from doing so until after Mc Nicolls delivers his ruling. He then contacts a powerful PNM financier, who manages to negotiate a successful cancellation of the purchase of Mc Nicolls’ property. In the end, had the plan worked, it would have been as if this property transaction was never entered into, and the paper trail would have simply vanished into thin air. Mc Nicolls makes the most extreme, unjust and oppressive ruling against Panday. The AG then informs him that he completed his investigation into the worrying property transaction and saw no need for any further action. None of this would have come to light had Chief Justice Sharma simply kept his mouth shut and turned a blind eye to the looming injustice. Instead of thinking and acting like a CJ, Sharma should have thought about the implications of him asking Mc Nicolls for a report about this matter. He was already in trouble because of the allegation that he had interfered and intervened to prevent the unnecessary and unfair prosecution of Prof Vijay Narayansingh. Sharma was about to make the same mistake twice; he was about to intervene in the prosecution of yet another high-profile Indian. All of this because he failed to appreciate the obvious personal consequences, and foolishly chose to focus on the oath he took as CJ. Everyone was bound to accuse him for standing up for two high-profile Indians. The racial factor was inescapable, as every one else were non-Indians: the Prime Minister, the AG, the DPP, the Commissioner of Police, and the Chief Magistrate. Panday was not charged with corruption, and for those who know him he is virtually incorruptible. His personality and traits have no leaning towards materialism and ostentation, and his primary concern and love is politics. One point two million dollars could hardly be credited as a bribe paid to a PM who was in charge of a billion-dollar economy at a time when we were aggressively monetising our off-shore gas reserves by international competitive bidding. If Panday received this money as a bribe, then why, pray tell, is Lawrence Duprey, who admitted to paying it, still free? He has certainly not been granted any immunity from prosecution. The PNM had persecuted Panday for a technical offence that has been committed by dozens of public officials over the years with impunity. The annual reports of the Integrity Commission are replete with examples of cases where people have failed to file their declarations. In some cases, the matters were actually referred to the DPP, but alas, no one has ever prosecuted, except Panday. Panday has been singled out, targeted and prosecuted in an environment of state indifference to what was hitherto a largely-ignored technical breach of a law that was observed more in breach than practice. There is nothing illegal or criminal about Duprey financing the education of Panday’s children. indeed, Manning’s children also received external financial assistance. Duprey is free to spend his money as he likes. Whilst it is true that Panday retained his political heavyweight title because the fight was disqualified, a fair retrial for a ten-year-old offence would not be able to deny him his rightful place as a true champion who struggled for the betterment of his people and country. No court will treat him the way Mc Nicolls did. He has avoided ignominy, defeat and eternal damnation, and will be remembered as the Indian who was such a political force that PNM was prepared to do any thing to get rid of him. Most importantly, it would be written that, but for Sharma, they almost did.