A “secret” meeting at Ken Gordon’s home might have been inappropriate, and even foolish, but it does not reach the level of misconduct in public office, according to the law. This is the view of Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal on the private meeting between Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and Integrity Commission chairman Ken Gordon. “It might reach the level of foolishness but not every foolish action amounts to a crime,” Seetahal said yesterday in response to questions on the matter.
Outlining, strictly from a criminal law perspective, the arguments for her position that the meeting did not amount to misconduct in public life, Seetahal began with a definition of such misconduct. “The proposed defendant must be a public official and be shown to have wilfully neglected to perform a duty. “He must be shown to have wilfully misconducted himself and to such a degree to amount to an abuse of public trust.”
Focusing on the wilful misconduct aspect, Seetahal said: “He must be seen to deliberately do something that is wrong, either knowing to be so, or with reckless indifference about whether it is wrong.” So what did Rowley do? “What did he do that was, in law, so wrong? Or was he so reckless he didn’t care if it was wrong? “And if he did wrong, was it to such a degree to amount to an abuse of public trust?”
She said it might have been inappropriate for Rowley to meet Gordon at his home. Answering her own questions, Seetahal said, “From all that I’ve read and heard, I think Dr Rowley and Mr Gordon exercised bad judgment. “People might think he was careless but may not see it as something so wrong as to violate public trust. But their action does not seem to cross to misconduct.”
Martin Daly, SC, who described Rowley’s meeting with Gordon at his home as improper in another recent newspaper interview, yesterday declined further comment. “I’m waiting for the matter to unfold,” he said. “The next development is to see what are Gordon’s plans and, in particular, what are the President’s plans in selecting new commissioners to the Integrity Commission.” There have been calls for Gordon’s resignation after the Rowley meeting.
The term of the rest of the Integrity Commission’s board expired on March 14 and it has been operating without one. Daly, asked to comment on the PM’s statements, said it did not help the situation to comment on statements made at a political meeting. Rowley was at a Privileges Committee meeting yesterday and could not be reached.