| COLA Lawyer Questions Whylie Decision |
| Thu, March 27, 2014 |
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But back now to the Penner case. As you heard in our story, COLA's attorney said that they are depending Commissioner of Police Allen Whylie to turn over all evidence that the police has gathered before the next court date. He said that they will continue to press him and the Auditor General to turn over whatever evidence they have. But, as we told you, Whylie has filed a notice of his intent to appeal the Writ of Mandamus, which was granted by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin.
COLA and their attorney have interpreted that as a clear attempt to defy the intent of the court's compulsion, but they says that ComPol Whylie must go another step, which is to apply for a stay of execution. He would then be asking to court to relieve him of the responsibility of having to complete the investigation, which Musa told the media is political suicide for the UDP Government. Here's how he explained it:
Kareem Musa - Attorney for COLA
"If they were to try to apply for a stay of execution which to me would be political suicide because then you know clearly that there are political operatives behind this. Why else would the commissioner of police refuse to do his job? That is ridiculous to think that the commissioner of police is saying in this particular case just because this man is an area representative for the UDP he doesn't want to investigate him - man, that is absurd."
So, at this time, even though Whylie intends to appeal the Chief Justice's decision, he still has a legal obligation to complete the investigation or he will be in contempt of a direct court order. As we told you last night, that investigation has been ongoing intensively for the past three weeks.
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