“The Prosecution Service Must be Independent” - Jallow

• Posted by Modou S. Joof on March 4, 2010 at 10:17pm
• View Modou S. Joof's blog

Banjul, The Gambia (TNBES) The prosecution service must be independent, if prosecutors are perceived to be under any inappropriate influence, this would be a distraction for investors, Queens Counsel Cherno S.
Jallow said during the recently concluded week long programme of The Gambia Bar
Association.

The Former Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands was speaking on the topic ‘Legal Practice in The Gambia: Opportunities for Growth and Development’ at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

Jallow emphasised that the time has probably come when the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should be completely divorced from any link with the Office of the Attorney General.

He said that the subject of growth and development in our legal practice is a public-private sector partnership and as a lawyer they need the Government as much as the Government needs them if they are to attain
desired growth not only in their practice, but also in the development of the
country.

“We need to come up with ideas (legal and otherwise) for formulating and steering growth in relevant sectors of our economy; we need a listening and participatory government that looks at those ideas constructively
with the view to taking them forward through the formulation of appropriate
policies and the enactment of relevant legislation,” he stressed.

He also pointed out that there is the need to create proper structures that are sufficiently independent and resourced to implement those policies and legislation.

Making reference to small jurisdictions, he said: “Small jurisdictions like the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Seychelles did not become success stories in the offshore world by dint of
luck. They worked their way there through appropriate partnering with the
relevant sectors of their communities.”

On the subject proper, he suggests that every new area of growth in our economy will necessarily have a dimension and therein would lay the opportunities for development in our legal practice.

He noted that we have structures in place for company formation and business registration, but the question is whether we are coping with current and emerging developments globally with respect to these subjects.
Are we monitoring global trends and the standards being developed around these
subjects in order to keep our country properly attuned to desired investment
opportunities, he asked.

According to him, the laws on company and business registration are constantly changing and if we lag behind in our reform system a piece of the pie we already have will be taken away by more progressive
jurisdictions.

He also suggest in terms of growth, the following should be considered; Trust Business is more of a concept of the common law that of the civil law (and indeed people from civil law jurisdictions have some difficulty
understanding the scope of the concept of trust law).

He explained that it is a growing area whereby individuals and families globally are increasingly looking to foreign jurisdictions to domicile their trust business.

“It is important that the appropriate regime is created to regulate trust service providers,” he stressed.

On International Business Company, he said that many modern business companies have become mobile across the globe, being formed in one jurisdiction and operating elsewhere and thus taking advantage of the
opportunities afforded by globalization.

He noted that Hedge fund business (or referred to as mutual funds in some jurisdictions is a global industry in which private individuals and legal persons invest their private funds in either public or
managed funds, including private and professional funds. This involves the
pooling of resources for investment purposes or the segregated management of
specified funds.

On the area of Insurance Business, he said that while we do have a domestic insurance business, opportunities exist to explore engaging in the captive insurance business.

He explained that the four areas above are outlined for consideration in the context of broadening the business based of our country and thus opening new opportunities in the practice of the law. VOL:2 ISSN:69