Dear Editor,
We have to thank you for publishing the detailed exposition of the Regional contract tendering rules in yesterday’s letter from Mr Jerome Khan, Attorney for Mr Carl Parker. It was Mr Khan (instructed of course by his client) who brought the topic of contract awards into public discussion at the beginning of the judicial process on a charge of sexual assault. Mr Parker’s activity in Lethem last week was reported to me as concerning contracts, which raised anew the question of an REO’s powers whether in office or on forced leave.
The remarks in my letter published Feb 22 might equally have been construed in support of Mr Parker’s resisting attempts to influence him over contracts. Certainly they could not be taken to express any view on guilt or innocence in a matter sub judice. Mr Khan need not protest that I am impatient for Mr Parker’s case to undergo due process.
Criminal matters can be tried in the court of public opinion as well as in courts of law, often to the extent of publicity chosen by the defence, as in this case. My interest is in the way local events can illustrate principles of governance under the law. The public is now better informed in some legal details of the justice that must be seen to be done.
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Forte
