Businessman Inshan Ishmael has sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Integrity Commission, threatening to sue the body for its delay in investigating a complaint he made.
Ishmael is questioning the decision by the commission not to take further action as it relates to his complaint about “alleged copious allocation of foreign exchange” to a foreign-used car dealer.
The letter was sent on Ishmael’s behalf by his attorney Richard Jaggasar.
The businessman who also operates his own foreign-used parts dealership filed his complaint with the commission on July 13, 2021, detailing a number of his concerns about the allocation of foreign exchange to the other company, questioning if there was a bias in the process.
The commission acknowledged the complaint and opened an investigation but Ishmael was told it had repeatedly made requests to relevant stakeholders for information and documents to proceed with the investigation.
The commission also said it was waiting on legal advice of senior counsel on the next step in its investigation.
However, the pre-action letter said between July 2021-July 2023, Ishmael heard nothing about the investigation and made two requests for an update in August before he received a response last Friday.
Jaggasar referred to a complaint by UNC activist Ravi Balgobin Maharaj on August 3 and eight days later, on August 11, the commission responded to that complaint after it came under public scrutiny.
Ishmael intends to approach the courts for declarations that the commission has neglected or failed to adhere to its statutory duties and powers and that the two-year delay to conduct an investigation was unreasonable and an act of bad faith.
If the commission does not respond to the letter by early September, he will also ask the courts for an order to get certain entities to respond to letters to provide the commission with information relating to Ishmael’s complaint.