Former Clico Investment Bank (CIB) vice-president Mala Gandhi yesterday pleaded not guilty to the allegation that she failed to appear before the Clico commission of enquiry. Gandhi entered the plea before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Court. Gandhi was the only defendant to enter the prisoner’s dock as she had received the summons to attend court within the stipulated period.
Former CL Financial finance director Andre Monteil, former CIB president Lennox Archer and former CIB president Richard Trotman are also intended defendants. Although Archer and Trotman were in court yesterday, they said they had yet to receive summonses and therefore were not invited to stand before the court. Gandhi and Archer are represented by attorneys Rishi Dass, Dharmendra Poonwassie and Leslie-Ann Assie. Trotman was unrepresented.
Monteil and his attorneys—Sophia Chote, SC, Michelle Solomon-Baksh and Kimberly Mulligan—were all absent. Monteil said he had attended the initial hearing on May 29 as a sign of respect to the court. Asked if he was willing to waive service yesterday so that the charge could also be read to him, Trotman declined, adding he still did not know the specifics.
In response to Trotman's indication that he wanted to be served before attending court, attorney Wayne Sturge urged the court to get contact numbers and addresses for the three individuals not yet served. Sturge, along with Israel Khan, SC, and Lemuel Murphy, represent secretary to the commission Judith Gonzalez. Sturge accused the three men of "playing hide-and-seek," hence the police’s inability to serve the summonses.
Countering that the other intended defendants were not avoiding the matter, Dass said Senior Magistrate Annette Mc Kenzie had ordered new summonses be served during the hearing on May 29 but this was yet to be done.
Calling the matter around 9.20 am yesterday, Ayers-Caesar read the charge to Gandhi that having been served a summons on February 13, 2012 that she attend to give evidence at the Clico commission of enquiry, she left without the permission of the commissioner and failed to return on April 29 as ordered. The summonses were issued on behalf of the complainant, Gonzalez.
Gonzalez filed the complaint on the instruction of enquiry chairman Sir Anthony Colman, under Section 33 of the Summary Courts Act. During the sitting on May 1, Colman expressed disgust that the four, along with former Clico chairman Lawrence Duprey, had failed to appear before the enquiry. Colman could not undertake any action against Duprey, who has been living out of the jurisdiction since 2009, but instructed Gonzalez to file a complaint against the other four.
Ayers-Caesar also ordered new summonses to be served on Monteil, Trotman and Archer before she adjourned the matter to July 29.