FORMER attorney general Faris Al-Rawi says his predecessor John Jeremie has questions to answer about legal matters he was prosecuting with respect to the opposition UNC and other matters he was involved in before he mounted a political platform in Penal on April 14 to publicly endorse UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Al-Rawi said Jeremie has lost his way, has no influence in the PNM and the UNC's attempts to use him to persuade people to vote for it are destined to fail.
He made these comments to the media before a key distribution ceremony for starter homes at Bayshore, Marabella, on April 15.
Al-Rawi said, "As the former attorney general of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago myself for seven years and as the person who is still managing the Piarco Airport inquiry matter, I was shocked to see John Jeremie on a UNC platform because of the record in court, the record on (Parliament's) Hansard and the record in public, is that Mr Jeremie prosecuted the criminality and allegations against the UNC."
He added, "I say criminality because people went to jail in the USA and I say allegations with respect to matters that are before the courts at present."
Jeremie, Al-Rawi continued, is the subject of a Privy Council condemnation in relation to the Chief Magistrate (Marcia Ayers-Caesar) matter.
In a ruling on March 24, the Privy Council affirmed that Ayers-Caesar was wrongfully pressured into resigning by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC), led by Chief Justice Ivor Archie, declaring her removal unconstitutional.
Jeremie reportedly served as an attorney to Archie for part of that matter.
Al-Rawi said, "But he is the man who prosecuted that there were allegations of significant corruption, which is before the courts right now, so I will be very careful how I speak about that, against people that he stood up on a platform last night representing (the UNC)."
He added while Jeremie was promoting the UNC, "some people in the UNC were in fact in the UNC government (1995-2001) against whom allegations stood."
Al-Rawi identified Persad-Bissessar, who served as attorney general for part of that period, as one of those people.
At a PNM meeting in San Fernando on April 2, Al-Rawi criticised the UNC’s handling of the Piarco case.
He accused the UNC of derailing investigations during Persad-Bissessar’s tenure as AG and later as prime minister (2010-2015).
Al-Rawi referred to the controversial Section 34 of the Administration of Justice Act, which he claimed could have allowed people implicated in the Piarco scandal to escape justice.
Despite its repeal following public outrage, Al-Rawi said seven people in a US court had already entered guilty pleas in a US court related to the scandal.
Al-Rawi reminded PNM supporters about government's pursuit of the matter in the US resulted in the securing of a judgment worth $1.3 billion in TT's favour.
He claimed this progress could be undone if the UNC wins on April 28.
In a judgement on June 27, 2022, the Privy Council questioned the administra
