By Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter 
Llewellyn
PROSECUTORS AT the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, King Street, Kingston, were yesterday up in arms over reports of the impending transfer of Paula Llewellyn, acting Senior Deputy DPP. Some threatened to take industrial action if her transfer is effected.
The Gleaner was told yesterday that Kent Pantry, Q.C., Director of Public Prosecutions, had recommended to the Services Commission that Miss Llewellyn be transferred.
The Gleaner contacted Mr. Pantry's office three times yesterday but he never returned any of the calls. The Gleaner sought to ask Mr. Pantry, through his secretary (as is customary with queries from this newspaper), whether he had recommended that Miss Llewellyn be transferred.
On the first two calls, his secretary said he was in a meeting. He did not return any of the calls and when another call was put through to his office at 4:45 p.m., The Gleaner was told that he had already left.
Over the last two years, Mr. Pantry had given Miss Llewellyn very low ratings for her performance on the job. Miss Llewellyn has appealed the low grades to the Services Commission, which appoints civil servants. She has been acting for the last three years in the vacancy created by Mr. Pantry's appointment when he succeeded former DPP Glen Andrade, Q.C., who retired four years ago.
The grades at the Office of the DPP range from 'A' to 'D'. 'A' means far above average, 'B' means above average, 'C' means average to be expected of grade, and 'D' means below average to be expected of grade.
With the exception of a 'B' rating for expressing herself clearly, Miss Llewellyn received a 'D' rating in all other areas. The grades were slightly improved during the next grading.
The Gleaner has learnt there are plans to transfer Miss Llewellyn to one of the island's Resident Magistrates' Courts as a Senior Magistrate.
But when contacted yesterday at the Corporate Area Criminal Court, Half-Way Tree, where she was prosecuting a fraud case, Miss Llewellyn said no one had told her of any impending transfer. "I don't know anything about that," she added.
Asked to comment on reports of Miss Llewellyn's impending transfer, Charles Jones, chief personnel officer and secretary to the Services Commission, said: "No, I don't know. I can't say anything about the matter."
But several prosecutors at the DPP's office yesterday threatened to take industrial action if Miss Llewellyn is transferred, as some of them claim that she is the "best prosecutor" in the department.
The news of the recommendation for her transfer came as a surprise to many of the prosecutors who said the department was woefully short of experienced prosecutors, especially in light of the recent departure of Bryan Sykes, acting Senior Deputy DPP, who was promoted to act as a Puisne Judge.
Mr. Sykes is expected to return to the DPP's office by next week, but he will be leaving the island in August to take up a nine-month Hubert Humphrey Scholarship in the United States.
During the last four years, at least 16 prosecutors have left the Office of the DPP citing "frustration". This has left the office staffed some 80 per cent with inexperienced prosecutors. This year, a senior prosecutor left for a job that is paying her less than the one she quit.
A prosecutor disclosed that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, prosecutors left the office because of low pay. The pay has since increased significantly but prosecutors are still leaving because of what a well-informed source said was dissatisfaction with the administration of DPP's Office. According to the source, successive complaints have been made to the relevant authorities but there has been no redress.
