Khan calls for probe into ZOSO bill allegations

Pres­i­dent of the Crim­i­nal Bar As­so­ci­a­tion, Is­rael B. Khan, SC, says Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s al­le­ga­tion that two In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tors sought per­son­al favours in ex­change for sup­port­ing the Zones of Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions (ZOSO) Bill amounts to a claim of se­ri­ous crim­i­nal con­duct and re­quires a for­mal in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

In a state­ment to­day, Khan said if the al­le­ga­tion is true, it would con­sti­tute the com­mon law of­fences of cor­rup­tion and so­lic­it­ing a bribe.

He said the Prime Min­is­ter claimed that dur­ing de­bate on the leg­is­la­tion, two of the Pres­i­dent’s ap­point­ed Sen­a­tors ap­proached a se­nior Gov­ern­ment Sen­a­tor seek­ing pro­fes­sion­al favours in ex­change for se­cur­ing sup­port and the re­main­ing votes need­ed for the Bill’s pas­sage.