PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Retired Appeal Court judge Stanley John, who has been appointed as the lead investigator into the disappearance of a file at the center of a multi-million dollar (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) compensation to nine men acquitted of the murder of businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman in 2016, is to make a statement on Saturday on the issue.
A statement issued by the Communications Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister on Friday said that John would make the statement on the state-owned Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT) at 10.35 am (local time).
The statement noted that he would not be fielding questions but would give updates regarding the status of his investigation.
Last week, John was appointed as the lead investigator into the matter as the state seeks to determine how it could not file a defense in a case in which it was ordered to compensate the nine men TT$2.1 million (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) each.
Last week, Attorney General Reginald Armour told a news conference that an important file that would have alerted the Office of the Attorney General to the matter “had disappeared” even though the relevant department had received it.
But John announced he had been informed on Monday evening by the acting Solicitor General “that the file in question” had been handed over to her, adding that he “immediately instructed that the Solicitor General (Ag) secure that file for collection by the Investigative Team, the re-appearance of this file forms part of this continuing investigation.”
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has called on Chief Justice Ivor Archie to identify the high-ranking judicial officer who handed the file concerning the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman malicious prosecution case to the Solicitor General.
Persad-Bissessar has written to the Chief Justice, calling on him to state the matter publicly.
Last week, Master Martha Alexander awarded to the nine men TT$19,168,917.56 for malicious prosecution and exemplary damages; costs amounting to $200,917.56; and the cost of an expert witness of $68,000, making it perhaps the most significant award in Trinidad and Tobago’s judicial history.
Interest will be added to the damages for each man, at a rate of 2.5 percent, from May 29, 2020, to January 30, this year.
Naipaul-Coolman, 52, the former chief executive of the supermarket chain Naipaul’s Xtra Foods, was kidnapped from the driveway of her residence in Lange Park, Chaguanas, in west-central Trinidad, on the night of December 19, 2016. Her body was never found. Her kidnappers had demanded a three million dollar ransom for her release.
The nine men – Shervon Peters, Devon Peters, Anthony Gloster, Joel Fraser, Ronald Armstrong, Keida Garcia, Jameel Garcia, Marlon Trimmingham, and Antonio Charles – were among ten persons who had gone on trial in 2016 for Naipaul-Coolman’s murder.
The nine men had filed a malicious prosecution claim in May 2020, which the state did not defend, despite having entered an appearance.
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