Grenada will soon be looking for replacements to fill the top judicial positions with government.
According to well-placed sources, a new Attorney-General is in the making as the present holder of the office, Guyana-born Darshan Ramdhani has been given only a six month extension on the one-year contract signed with government.
A source who spoke on condition that he was not identified said that Solicitor General Dia Forrester will be leaving the position next week at the expiration of her one-year contract.
He said that Forrester has been offered a position as a Temporary Master in one of the islands within the court system in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
When contacted by THE NEW TODAY newspaper, Ramdhani was not forthcoming with information but indicated that he had only given a commitment to serve as AG for a while since he wanted to spearhead the legal work in his private law firm.
Sources told this newspaper that the Keith Mitchell-led government will be hard-pressed to get anyone of substance working in private practice to assume the position of Grenada’s Attorney-General.
Current government Senator Kim George who was short-listed after the 2018 general election reportedly declined to take up the AG post on the grounds that she did not want to leave her private practice.
According to the source, the departing Solicitor General has just had a lawsuit filed against her and the law firm that she was attached to on the island of Nevis which is part of the Federation of St. Kitts.
The suit was filed by America 2030 Capital Limited against Government Minister Mark Brantley, Daniel Brantley Law firm, Brian Barnes, Elizabeth Harper, Dia Forrester, Erik Prince, Sunpower Business Group Pte Ltd and Tournan Tradng Pte Ltd.
The complaints are alleging that Forrester and the members of her law firm used confidential information given to them by American 2030 to the benefit of a rival outfit that they are also representing without their knowledge and permission.
Ramdhani’s appointment as AG was surprising given the fact that government lawyers had instituted contempt of court proceedings against him in a matter involving the State and a female resident of Malta.
Ramdhani had also angered then current Minister of Legal Affairs Kendra Maturine-Stewart and her attorney-at-law husband, Nigel Stewart who were representing the woman’s former male companion on a matter involving the custody of a child.
A government insider told this newspaper that the government instructed its team of lawyers – former AG Cajeton Hood and then Solicitor General Dwight Horsford not to proceed with the case after intervention from the highest possible level within the Cabinet of Ministers.
Attorney Hood who is now in private practice alluded to the Ramdhani contempt of court matter in a recent article sent to media houses for publication.
Hood said: “Keith wants a person who will do his bidding and give him advice regarding how to find a legally acceptable way to get his own way, so he makes a deliberate and conscious decision to choose a person who “owes him” for coming to his aid in a contempt of court matter raised in the court by Keith’s own Legal Affairs ministry.
“I wonder how the current Minister of Legal Affairs and her husband are coping with this issue. They were both involved in the matter as counsel for one of the parties involved in the dispute and at the time they were rather scathing in their remarks about the conduct of that lawyer. No morals and no respect at all”.