(Kaieteur News) – The legal team representing the three Transport and Harbours Department (TH&D) employees charged with murder over the deadly MV Barima disaster is preparing to challenge the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) position that criminal proceedings can run alongside the Commission of Inquiry (COI), warning that such a course could prejudice the accused and undermine their constitutional rights.

With the five-member COI sworn in on Thursday and his clients on remand facing 72 counts of murder, attorney-at-law and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian Dexter Todd maintained that instituting the murder charges “is not only unacceptable, it is premature.”

During a press conference Todd referenced a statement by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, which states that criminal proceedings and the COI can proceed concurrently. “More importantly our concerns from a legal standpoint are that there is an acceptance by the Director of Public Prosecutions that two parallel investigations are acceptable under our laws,” Todd stated.