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For­mer Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter and at­tor­ney Sub­has Pan­day has de­fend­ed the Prime Min­is­ter’s de­ci­sion to keep Hous­ing Min­is­ter David Lee in her Cab­i­net.

Lee and busi­ness­man Hugh Leong Poi were re-ar­rest­ed on Oc­to­ber 7 over al­le­ga­tions of con­spir­ing to de­fraud the State over the im­por­ta­tion of a $2 mil­lion Mer­cedes-Benz G63 AMG. The State al­leges that Lee false­ly claimed own­er­ship to ben­e­fit from par­lia­men­tary tax ex­emp­tions.

They were pre­vi­ous­ly freed from the charges but were re­ar­rest­ed on Oc­to­ber 7. Lee was sub­se­quent­ly grant­ed $1 mil­lion bail, while Leong Poi was grant­ed $600,000 bail. Fol­low­ing his ar­rest, Per­sad-Bisses­sar ex­pressed con­fi­dence in the ju­di­cial sys­tem and has not fired Lee de­spite pres­sure from the Op­po­si­tion. Speak­ing at a press con­fer­ence at his San Fer­nan­do Law Cham­bers yes­ter­day, Pan­day said Lee's re­ar­rest has been turned in­to a po­lit­i­cal foot­ball.