King’s Counsel cancer free: Nelson’s money woes

Black Immigrant Daily News

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Vincent Nelson, KC –

As of December 2021, convicted King’s Counsel Vincent Nelson was cancer free.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans done in December 2019, 2020 and 2021 showed no signs of cancer.

Nelson, 64, was diagnosed with cancer in March 2016. Sometime in October 2017, his then-attorney, Roger Kawalsingh, met with former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi with information that Nelson was “gravely ill and wanted to purge his conscience” of alleged corrupt practices involving former AG Anand Ramlogan, ex-UNC senator Gerald Ramdeen and three other attorneys before he died.

This led to Nelson signing a purported indemnity agreement – which he now says was breached by Al-Rawi and the Government – and giving a statement stating the alleged evidence of wrongdoing.

Nelson took a sabbatical from practice and was treated in New York. In 2017, cancer returned and he again had surgery in March 2018 in London.

MRIs showed he was cancer free and he said he planned to return to work but was advised to hold off until January 2019.

On June 6, 2019, Nelson pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit an act of corruption arising out of the alleged legal fees kickback scheme. He was charged a month earlier.

In May 2019, he was permanently excluded from membership at the 39 Essex Street Chambers in London because of his conviction.

After his conviction, he tried to get work at commercial law chambers and even a utility company he previously represented but was unsuccessful in getting work.

Nelson said if not for his conviction – which he also claims was not part of his agreement with the Government – he would have returned to practice law for 10 years until his retirement in 2028 when he turned 71.

He is claiming $96 million for these “lost years” of work. Nelson said he had no funds saved for a pension and it was always his intention to return to work as soon as he was cured of cancer.

His bank account was overdrawn in June 2018 and closed in March 2020 when UK investigative authorities began a probe based on the statement he gave about the alleged corruption scheme. Nelson was not criminally prosecuted in the UK because of Al-Rawi’s intervention, but he is still being investigated for underpayment of taxes. He also wants TT to pay any demand for unpaid taxes that the National Crime Agency or His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs service may make against him because of his statement as he is entitled to be indemnified for it because of the alleged breach of his agreement with the Government.

Nelson said in August 2020 when his father died in Jamaica, he could not attend because he had no money for airfare or hotel bills so it was imperative that he return to work.

In March 2020, he was fined $2.5 million – which he also wants the State to pay – and at his sentencing hearing, his British attorney at the time, Tom Allen,KC, said Nelson’s main asset was a property in the United Kingdom which he would have had to sell to pay the fines. Allen said his client could no longer practice since agreeing to cooperate in the case and that most of his liquid assets were depleted in treating his cancer.

Nelson says before his conviction he earned an average annual salary of £1.4 million.

He said his expulsion from Chambers also led to him sling his medical insurance and he wants the State to pay for this and any costs or expenses he incurs from disciplinary proceedings by the British Bar Standards Board which were started in July 2019, because of his conviction.

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