Christie, Paula spar over report

THE PUBLIC conflict between Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn and Contractor General Greg Christie was stepped up a notch yesterday after Llewellyn dismissed his recommendations arising out of an investigation into the operations of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).

Christie last year recommended criminal charges be brought against personnel at the JUTC after he accused the then chairman of the JUTC finance committee, Bindley Sangster, of "wilfully misleading" him.

He also said that Susan Simes and members of the board of the JUTC should be made to answer before a criminal court.

However, Llewellyn said "there was no material to suggest that there was any conspiracy on the part of persons to commit any criminal act".

"The police investigators have uncovered no material to suggest that any of the persons interviewed obtained illicit benefits from any of the procedural breaches which have been identified," Llewellyn said.

Right to due process

The DPP also said that under the Constitution of Jamaica, each citizen is entitled to due process and the protection of the law.

"Indeed, the rules of natural justice demand that a suspected person be heard before he is condemned ... . A citizen, therefore, is entitled to his good name until or unless a tribunal of fact, whether judge or jury, after hearing evidence on oath in the criminal court, has found otherwise," Llewellyn said.

But as soon as the DPP released her findings, Christie shot back.

"In her conclusion, the learned DPP has misguided herself on the clear provisions of the Contractor General Act," Christie said.

He also said the DPP had failed to "properly acquaint herself with the provisions of the Contractor General Act".

Christie, in his annual report tabled in Parliament last week, said the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was failing to respond in a timely or effective manner to matters referred by his office.