Antigua DPP not quitting

Antigua and Barbuda’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Anthony Armstrong, says he will not resign from the post after Jamaica’s General Legal Council (GLC) last Monday found him guilty of professional misconduct.

Armstrong, a Jamaican who was appointed DPP in 2005, was fined J$250,000 for breaching Canon I (b) of the Legal Profession (Canons of Professional Ethics) Rules, which states that an attorney shall at all times maintain the honour and dignity of the profession and shall abstain from behaviour which may tend to discredit the profession of which he is a member.

“[I] won’t be resigning. We will be appealing,” Armstrong told The Gleaner when contacted on Sunday.

The judgment followed a complaint filed with the GLC in 2019 by Michael Adams, who accused Armstrong of selling three of his properties without his knowledge or consent.

According to Adams, Armstrong sold the properties while Adams was behind bars in the United States between 2003 and 2015, after he was found guilty of conspiring to import cocaine and marijuana.

The sale agreement reportedly carried the signature of Adams and was witnessed by Armstrong.

Adams denied signing the documents for the transfer of property and accused the attorney of forging his signature.

However, the GLC’s disciplinary committee panel, comprising Chairman Daniella Gentles-Silvera, Delrose Campbell and Anna Gracie, found, through the testimony of a handwriting expert, that the signatures were authentic, but said that Armstrong was “reckless” in indicating that he witnessed Adams’ signature of the documents when he did not.

“Witnessing the signature of someone on legal documents without them being present is the height of recklessness, and had we found that the signature on the transfers was not that of the complainant, the consequences could have been graver,” the 32-page decision of the panel read.

“The act by the attorney is behaviour which may tend to discredit the profession in breach of Canon I (b), which is an act of professional misconduct.”

Armstrong’s attorney, Hugh Wildman, told The Gleaner on Sunday that an appeal will be filed this week.

SIGNATURES LEGITIMATE

He dismissed the decision by the GLC panel as “rubbish”, arguing that it was determined that the signatures on the transfers were legitimate.

“Once you’ve found that they signed the transfers, that they signed the documents, then that’s the end of the matter. We’re saying that it cannot be [professional misconduct] because he signed. It would have only been an issue if he had not signed,” Wildman charged.

The attorney said that it is on this and other bases that the decision will be appealed, stressing at the same time that the main charges were dismissed.

“We have very strong grounds of appeal,” he insisted.

“All this is only an issue now because the person who made the allegation is a rogue. He’s a criminal and he was trying to blackmail Mr Armstrong after nearly 20 years.”

Adams, in his affidavit, said US$15,450 was paid to him by Armstrong upon his release from prison, but denied that the money was paid as a consequence of blackmail or extortion.

He said that he had confronted the attorney about the sale of his properties without his consent and was told by Armstrong that “his back was against the wall”.

He maintained that the money received was a repayment by Armstrong of the proceeds of the sale of the three properties.

However, the GLC found that Armstrong paid Adams the sum “out of fear of the threats and embarrassment”.

“As I come from court tomorrow, I’m going to draft the appeal. The man is a criminal,” said Wildman.

On Saturday, Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne said Armstrong had agreed to go on special leave, pending an appeal.

“My administration is very big on the issue of governance and we don’t play when it comes to governance. The holder of the Office of DPP has to be beyond reproach. Unfortunately, with this judgment, the DPP has to sort himself out,” Browne said.

“But, until such time, I don’t know that he’s fit to serve.”

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com