ANTIGUA | UPP leader Harold Lovell says DPP Anthony Armstrong should Resign

ST. JOHN’S S, Antigua and Barbuda, November 15, 2022 - Political leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP) Harold Lovell wants the country’s Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Armstrong to resign in light of the fraud charges brought against him in Jamaica.

Armstrong is facing a string of fraud-related charges in his native Jamaica in relation to three properties he is alleged to have sold without the consent of his client to whom they belonged.

The DPP who is currently on bail, is scheduled to appear before court again on Wednesday. During his absence, senior crown counsel Shannon Jones-Gittens has been appointed Acting DPP.

Speaking on the UPP’s Captain’s Corner show, Lovell suggested  that Armstrong do the “honourable thing” and resign, claiming he has tainted the DPP’s office.

“If he wants to come back to Antigua whatever happens, I mean, Antigua is an open country. Go ahead if you want to do what you want to do, you know if you are free to practice, but as far as being the DPP is concerned, I do not think it is good for confidence that people must have in the judicial system to have the prosecutor being prosecuted.

Lovell said he hoped that the DPP will be treated fairly in his legal matter as he as  UPP leader had not been treated fairly by Armstrong and the courts in relation to an ongoing case against Lovell and two UPP colleagues who were accused of converting and using for personal use three Daewoo buses donated to the then government by South Korea.

“I am not going to speculate. I will only say that it’s a funny thing that he charged three of us, and I don’t want to get too personal, but he charged three of us with fraudulent conversion and now he is in Jamaica facing a charge of fraudulent conversion,” Lovell said.

“I hope that in our case the magistrate will throw the case out but I hope you don’t have a vindictive DPP in Jamaica who will then appeal that so that it can go to trial before judge, and even if it goes before trial before judge, I hope he will not be faced with a vindictive DPP who would then appeal the judge’s ruling that there is no case to answer. Because as you know, what goes around comes around.

“And I’m sure he’s now hoping that whatever happens, he will be discharged and that he won’t have somebody who’s doing everything to make sure that he gets convicted, but what does this mean for his future as DPP in Antigua and Barbuda?

“I’m not asking you to speculate but the concern is, here you have a man who holds a constitutional position and there are so many doubts surrounding his practice. How does that play on the mind going forward, in terms of him being considered in the future?” Lovell asked.

Lovell congratulated senior crown counsel Shannon Jones-Gittens whom he hopes will be confirmed in the post.

“We have a young Barbudan woman acting in the position. Well, congratulations to her, you know I’m all in favour of the young lawyers coming forward and showing what they can do and it’s a great challenge for her.

“You know, being DPP is not an easy task but I have to say that I’ve seen her in action and I think she’s up to the task, and I wish her well,” he said.

The Cabinet said the Judicial and Legal Services Commission based in St Lucia will determine the actions which are to follow Armstrong’s arrest and charges.

The Commission is the institution under the Antigua and Barbuda Constitution Order – Section 87 — which is tasked with exercising disciplinary control over legal officers within its jurisdiction.

Armstrong, as DPP, had filed the notice of appeal in the case involving Lovell last December. But lawyers for Lovell, Dr Jacqui Quinn and Wilmoth Daniel moved to the Court of Appeal to have the matter struck off.

In November 2021 the three former ministers were acquitted of the corruption, conversion and embezzlement charges in relation to three Daewoo buses worth over EC$600,000  that had been donated to the former United Progressive Party (UPP) Administration by the Government of South Korea.

They had been accused of converting the buses for their personal use and had them registered at the Antigua and Barbuda Transport Board in their names, while they were in public office.

The case was dismissed in 2017 by Magistrate Conliffe Clarke and in 2001, Justice Colin Williams dismissed the case after hearing ‘no-case’ submissions from their lawyers at the end of an almost three-week, judge-only trial. However, the DPP Anthony Armstrong argued that Justice Williams erred in law when he dismissed the case against the three.

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