What could have been merely a teenager?s error has taken on huge proportions. The ?Goolamaully affair? is becoming so important ? it has been referred to the Supreme Court ? that one may wonder if it is not merely an occasion for a ?lawyers? struggle.?

The facts go back to 1986 in Great Britain. A certain Samad Ardus Goolamaully was sentenced to seven months? imprisonment after he was found guilty of possessing a fake gun and being about to commit a theft. At the time, the now famous lawyer, defending Antoine Chetty in the Notary Connection affair, was only 14 years old.

?I really do not think that a mistake made when I was 14 could mean that I am not a person of good character,? explains Samad Goolamaully. He is refering to the fact that each lawyer has to give a certificate of good character before he is sworn in, according to the Law Practitioners? Act.

The Bar Council does not share his point of view. Its members believe that he should at least have revealed the offence. ?Since the situation is very serious, we have been consulting each other and we all decided that the affair should be referred to the Supreme Court,? Bar Council president Sanjay Buckhory says.

<B>Sticking to their stands</B>

The affair has since then taken on a totally different dimension. Samad Goolamaully?s lawyer, Yousuf Mohamed, maintains that the decision of the Bar Council has not been taken in all fairness. He deplores that his client was convened in front of a biased panel since it was composed inter alia of lawyers who are representing people involved in the Deelchand affair. Barristers Gavin Glover, Ravin Chetty and Yanilla Moonshiram ?should not have been the ones to hear my client.?

While both Sanjay Bhuckory andYousuf Mohamed stick to their stand, the whole affair looks like a show of force between two clans. According to Samad Goolamaully himself, ?this whole affair came up again because I am Chetty?s lawyer. People ? the mafia?s friends ? want me to shut up.?

Lawyer Siddharta Hawoldar does not agree with this view. ?No one wants Goolamaully to shut up. Moreover, the most important revelations have already been made. In my opinion, it is a straightforward case. An offence was committed and it has now to be punished.?

In judicial circles, some say that barrister MP Dev Hurnam could be behind all this but Samad Goolamaully does not believe this to be the case and says he is confident about the verdict. In any case, this ?episode? could make people become even more sceptical about the legal profession. After a few of its members have been brought intoquestion by Chetty?s revelations, an internal division could make it even more vulnerable.