According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Annual Report 2015, the year was challenging economically. Photo: VINO

Former Director Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mr Wayne L. Rajbansie, writing in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Annual Report 2015, said he was choosing not to renew his contract. Photo:VINO/File

“2015 was economically challenging. The Government’s resources have become satiable and limited. A more conservative and austere approach was required for the administration of the department,” Mr Rajbansie wrote in the report which was laid in the House of Assembly by Premier Dr The Hon D. Orlando Smith on September 22, 2016.

And during his ‘conclusions’, Mr Rajbansie said the world financial crisis has affected all and sundry and that the VI was no exception.

“Given the budgetary reductions and the government’s capital expenditure programme for development of the territory, it is anticipated that 2016 will see severe austerity measures being introduced to manage the finances. Once more the clarion call is to do more with less.”

He said the budget estimates drastically reduced the Overseas Travel allocation, Books and Subscriptions, Entertainment and Legal vote sub heads. “The financial management of the ODPP will have to be prudent and cautious.”

However, Mr Rajbansie said the most important resource has continued to be the human resources and that it was with the committed and dedicated team that the work continued interrupted.

Most important achievement for 2015

The most important achievement for 2015, Mr Rajbansie listed, was the purchase of a cash flow management software.

“This ushers in a new era in cash flow management in the department. The existing manual system will remain operational for surviving files whilst the new system will be installed and ‘go live’ from January 2016. Thereafter all files received into the department will be uploaded onto the new system.”

According to the report, the software will allow for, inter alia, efficient accountability of case files, more equitable distribution of assignments, generation of reports, calendar updates, court appointments, time and workload management, sentencing data-base, and tracking of other pertinent data for criminological analysis.

Opted not to renew contract

Nothing that it was his final report, Trinidad national Mr Rajbansie said that in August 2016 his second contract would come to an end and even though the option was available for a renewal, “I do not intend to avail myself of the opportunity.”

Senior Magistrate slams former DPP

Recently, Senior Magistrate Tamia N. Richards criticised Mr Rajbansie for being scarce as a DPP.

Ms Richards had called on new DPP Ms Kim Hollis QC to lead from the front as she noted that she could count on her one hand the number of times she saw the former DPP Rajbansie.

“We hope to see her regularly… I can count on my one hand the number of occasions I saw her predecessor so I hope to see her very often and I would advise her to lead her team from the front.”

Ms Richards was speaking at the the special sitting of the supreme court to mark the opening of the 2016-17 Law Year of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on September 20, 2016.