ATTORNEY GENERAL Reginald Armour, SC, flew out of Trinidad on Tuesday for an undisclosed location on unstated "official business" until Thursday, amid a flurry of questions over his participation in the Government's US lawsuit against defendants in the Piarco Airport corruption scandal, including one he had once represented.
Energy Minister Stuart Young will act for him, on top of his normal duties.
Up to press time, Armour had not replied to Newsday's text query as to why he had left TT. An AG's Office statement did not say what the AG's official business" was.
Armour's exit came amid calls for his head by some attorneys who began a petition for the Law Association of TT (LATT) to discuss the matter.
LATT president Sophia Chote, SC, merely told Newsday the association was due to meet on Tuesday at 3 pm for its "regular monthly meeting."
Armour's flight came the day after an opposition walkout of the House of Representatives to protest his participation in the debate. The Opposition has since lodged a motion of no confidence motion against Armour.
As new AG, Armour should represent Trinidad and Tobago in a US civil case related to corruption in the Piarco Airport project, but two defendants, Brian Kuei Tung and Steve Ferguson,
alleged a conflict of interest, as Armour once had been one of Kuei Tung's attorneys.
Rejecting Armour's claim to have served only in a junior role of "note-taker," the US court ruled him and the State's law firm Sequor Law ineligible, with TT now expected to spend millions of dollars more in legal fees to hire new counsel.
Newsday reported on Tuesday that the attorneys' petition stated, "The crux of the allegation is that Mr Armour has provided false and misleading evidence on oath, on behalf of the state of TT, to a court of law in the United States.
"They are demonstrably false given the affidavit evidence in the US proceedings, well known facts in the public domain, and matters reported in the media which are materially undisputed."
Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial commented on Armour's trip, "In light of the factual and hard-hitting revelations by the Opposition Leader (Kamla Persad-Bissessar), I think the only place he should be going is to deliver his resignation directly to the PM."
Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein sent an opposition no-confidence motion against Armour, dated Monday, to the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The motion said the AG must uphold the TT Constitution, code of ethics of the Legal Profession Act and the rule of law, and maintain public confidence and trust in his office. Saying the AG represented TT in civil matters, the motion said a Miami court disqualified Armour owing to a conflict of interest as defendants in the case there were his former clients in the Piarco criminal proceedings in TT.
The motion said the AG's affidavit of April 24, under the penalty of perjury in the US court, had allegedly included "several false statements and patently misrepresented facts regarding his deep involvement" in proceedings for
