Although Attorney General Reginald Armour has broken his silence on his disqualification from the Piarco International Airport civil matter in a Miami court, the group of attorneys calling for a motion of no-confidence in him will go ahead with their petition.
This is according to attorney Kiel Taklalsingh, who spoke briefly to Guardian Media yesterday.
Taklalsingh was among a group of 40 attorneys who requisitioned the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) on June 15 for a meeting to debate and vote on a motion of no-confidence in Armour.
“A legal process has been initiated by the requisition which was signed by 40 lawyers. The requisition asks for a response from the AG and he has provided a response. The legal fraternity will now meet to consider the representations of the AG as soon as a date is fixed by the council of the Law Association,” Taklalsingh said.
He said Armour will be given an opportunity to respond to any part of the requisition if he chooses to do so. Taklalsingh said so far, he has only received an acknowledgement from the association.
Taklalsingh also condemned those who sought to target the attorneys who signed the requisition, saying, “No one should be prevented or intimidated from expressing their view, whether by petition or otherwise. I commend each lawyer, some of them who are very junior, who signed this petition and initiated this procedure. The future of the legal profession is in safe hands.”
The requisition stems from Armour’s disqualification from representing Trinidad and Tobago in a civil suit in a Miami court. The matter is directly tied to the Piarco Airport fraud case, with the same defendants. However, an issue arose when Armour was appointed as Attorney General to replace Faris Al-Rawi in March, after his ex-client, former finance minister Brian Kuei Tung, raised a challenge to his representing the state in the matter. Armour represented Kuei Tung and his then-girlfriend Renee Pierre in his capacity as a defence attorney in his private practice between 2003 and 2008.
But when he took over the reins of the AG’s office, Armour became the State’s attorney in all civil matters. Once his appointment was announced, Kuei Tung filed a petition to disqualify Armour and the US law firm, Sequor Law, which had been representing T&T and to dismiss the case against him.
A Miami court judge agreed with two of the three petitions Kuei Tung filed. It was later reported that the judge said Armour misrepresented his role in Kuei Tung’s defence when he swore to an affidavit stating he only played a ‘junior’ role in the preliminary enquiry, which was limited to research and note-taking.
On Monday, Armour released his third statement since the incident, admitting he got the details on his affidavit wrong. However, he said he did not believe there was anything to gain from “downplaying” his involvement in Kuei Tung’s defence. Armour said when he prepared and signed the affidavit, he was on vacation with his family in Europe and did not have any files with him.
“The end result is that I signed an affidavit based entirely upon my best recollection but I was attempting to recall events occurring some 14 years before,” Armour said.
He added that once he saw Kuei Tung’s affidavits, which were filed in response to his, he waited for an opportunity to “correct” his affidavit. However, Armour said he was not given an opportunity to do so and the judge’s decision was handed down.
Guardian Media attempted to speak to Armour yesterday, while he was in the Senate participating in the debate on the Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2022, by passing a note to him.
While Armour could be seen reading the note, he immediately folded it and placed it in his jacket pocket. He left the Senate minutes after the sitting had been adjourned.
Questions sent via WhatsApp to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley have so far been ignored.
The Prime Minister remains in the US for medical treatment following the Summit of the Americas and there has been no word on when he will return.
