Deputy Registrar of the Deeds Registry, Attorney Zanna Frank has filed a lawsuit against Attorney General, Basil Williams, who in return has submitted an affidavit in answer to the suit.
Williams today told media operatives that the lawsuit filed against him by Frank claiming that he gave direction to the Board for Penelope White to be appointed to the position, despite her being appointed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is flawed.
“What I wish to emphasize is that the entire application was predicated on the 22nd of June, 2016, wherein it alleges that the Attorney General appointed Miss Penelope White, Deputy Registrar and also Registrar of Deeds Acting, the 22nd of June 2016, I checked my diary and it shows that I was in South Korea, the Republic of Korea for a FATF meeting , I checked my passport which also shows that I was in Korea on that date,” Williams said.
Williams pointed out that the Board of the Registry expired in May and there is no mechanism in place for him to give directives to the board.
He said “they sued the wrong person, the proper respondent should have been the authority because it is a corporate entity…I have also shown that the only role the Minister of Legal Affairs has is to give general directives to the board and the board shall implement those directives, the day to day operations are reposed in the registrar of deeds and commercial registry and they are generally supervised by the governing board.”
He rejected the move as a malicious attempt to involve him, noting too that it was the staff of the registry that informed him of their non-support of Frank’s appointment .
Williams informed that the matter will now be addressed in September before Justice Brassington Reynolds after the Chief Justice recused herself from the case since she was part of the interview panel at the JSC.
The Attorney General had stated that Frank is not duly qualified for the post since she has under two years experience and the vacancy specified three years, noting too that the (JSC, by appointing her has breached the requirements it had set for the post.
He had also alleged that Frank is being used as a pawn and sacrificial lamb for a political reason.
