Attorney General John Jeremie yesterday said he had no direct knowledge of the application for judicial review filed by the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) seeking to challenge the validity of the Commission of Enquiry into its operations.

Jeremie did so while Opposition Senator Raphael Cumberbatch was contributing to the Senate’s debate on The Commissions of Enquiry (Validation and Immunity from Proceedings) Bill, 2009, at the Red House, Port of Spain, last evening.

’There is something called the subjudice rule and I am not an attorney and I would appreciate the Attorney General’s views, because my understanding is that there is litigation involved, is that there has been a filing of judicial review based on the validity of the Commission of Enquiry,’ Cumberbatch said. He gave way to Jeremie to clarify the matter.

’If you implied that I had knowledge of the action in respect of the judicial review at the time I brought this validation bill, let me dispel that from your mind. I obtained knowledge by way of the service at twenty to five a few Fridays ago of this Judicial Review proceedings,’ Jeremie said.

Cumberbatch said he was making no such implication against Jeremie.

’The coincidence of the events is what I was speaking to. I wasn’t ascribing anything to the honourable Attorney General,’ Cumberbatch said.

UDeCOTT had filed the Judicial Review action on September 18. A hearing is scheduled to take place at the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain, today on UDeCOTT’s application seeking an interim relief preventing the enquiry from continuing key aspects of its proceedings.

Last Friday, Justice Mira Dean-Armorer granted UDeCOTT leave to file for judicial review in respect of several key decisions of the enquiry, which has also been examining the local construction sector, just hours before the Government’s bill meant to validate the enquiry’s proceedings was tabled in the Senate .

Saying he was ascribing no blame to anyone yesterday, Cumberbatch called on UDeCOTT’s line Minister, Senator Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde, who is the Minister of Planning, Housing and the Environment, to answer specific questions regarding UDeCOTT’s Judicial Review.

Dick-Forde, who was sitting in the Parliament Chamber at the time, did not rise to respond.