Court To Decide Whether Charged Antigua-Barbuda DPP Will Reclaim Passport
By Racquel Porter Antigua and Barbuda’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Anthony Armstrong, was placed on Jamaica‘s Red Notice and was later removed prior to his arrest at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on Sunday. This was disclosed Monday when Mr. Armstrong, who is charged with conspiracy and fraudulent conversion, appeared in the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court and sought to have his passport returned. The Red Notice stems from a criminal investigation, where Mr. Armstrong was found guilty of professional misconduct by Jamaica‘s General Legal Council. The disciplinary committee of the GLC said Mr. Armstrong acted contrary to the laws of Jamaica when he, in 2004, signed as a witness to a document for someone who was not physically present. Objecting to the return of Mr. Armstrong‘s passport, the investigating officer told the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court that he was placed on the Red List after he failed to attend a question and answer session. The officer, objecting further to a request by Mr. Armstrong‘s attorney Hugh Wildman to have his client’s passport returned, said a warrant had also been issued. But Mr. Wildman, who claimed the charges against his client are intended to destroy his credibility, said the cop’s utterances were scandalous. According to Mr. Wildman, the investigating officer was casting aspersions on her senior officers because it was not Mr. Armstrong who removed himself from the Red List. Mr. Wildman said he wrote to Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn and sent the transcript from the GLC to her office. He insisted that the charges laid against his client were not as a result of a recommendation from the DPP. Arguing that he is prepared to file the matter in the Constitutional Court and have it declared as an abuse of process, Mr. Wildman highlighted that three attorneys heard the arguments and found Mr. Armstrong not guilty of criminal charges in February this year. However, Mr. Armstrong was found guilty of professional misconduct by the General Legal Council. Mr. Wildman contended that his client had never expressed an unwillingness to come to Jamaica to facilitate an investigation. He said Mr. Armstrong returned to Jamaica Sunday to participate in a question and answer session but was instead arrested in the car park at Norman Manley International Airport. He was subsequently granted $500,000 station bail. Parish Court Judge Venise Blackstock-Murray is to make a ruling on Thursday on whether Mr. Armstrong‘s passport will be returned.