The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has come out strongly to rebut an insinuation by Attorney General Maneesh Gobin that a criminal offence may have been committed by an officer of the Office of the DPP.
The Attorney General was referring to the Magistrate’s report on the judicial inquiry into the murder of former stalwart of the MSM ruling party, Soopramanien Kistnen.
The report by Magistrate Vidya Mungroo-Jugurnath, who had chaired the judicial inquiry into Kistnen’s death, severely criticised the police for its “new level of incompetence”.
She also suggested there were enough evidence to prove that Kistnen was murdered.
The crime could be linked to controversial contracts allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the “fake” employment of Kistnen’s wife as Constituency Clerk for ex-Commerce Minister Yogida Sawmynaden or the Kistnen Papers – in which the latter had recorded the party’s financial details for the 2019 general elections.
In a communique released to newsrooms, the Office of the DPP responded to a statement of the Attorney General issued on Sunday, October 16.
The DPP’s office said it will not be “allow itself to be intimidated in yet another attempt to curtail its independence and fearlessness to uphold the rule of law in our democratic society,” the statement said.
The DPP said that the “independence with which the officers of the DPP’s office need to exercise their functions, especially in relation to their interaction with the Police, has come under severe attack through the Attorney General’s Communique.”
The DPP also emphasised that it is solely up to the his office to decide “in what particular circumstances the findings should be made public, “taking as sole consideration the public interest of such disclosure.”
In his statement, the Attorney General said he had noted with “deep concern” that the “alleged findings” of the judicial inquiry were “thrown in the public domain.”
He also said that he will send a correspondence to the Chief Justice, Rehana Mungly-Gulbul, who is also the chairperson of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission.
Gobin added that the Commissioner of Police would be “advised to initiate an investigation to the fullest extent of the law…”
Opposition MPs Shakeel Mohamed (Labour), Veda Balamoody (MMM), Rama Valayden (Linion Pep Morisien) and Roshi Bhadain (Reform Party) strongly “condemned the attitude” of the Attorney General.
All claimed that an attempt of cover-up and intimidation against the press and the Office of the DPP was underway.
Sources: Le Mauricien, Defi Media
