Friday, December 1, 2006

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AFP): Trinidad and Tobago's Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma can be arrested and prosecuted on charges he attempted to influence the trial of a former prime minister, Britain's Privy Council ruled Thursday.

If arrested, Sharma would be the first chief justice and head of the judiciary to be criminally charged in the Caribbean.

Acting as a supreme court for many commonwealth countries, the five-member Privy Council's non-binding ruling overturned a decision by local courts preventing Sharma from being arrested and charged.

Sharma is accused of attempting to sway the decision of Chief Magistrate, Sherman McNicolls, in the trial of former prime minister Basdeo Panday (1995-2001), who at 73 was convicted of fraud earlier this year but released on bail for health reasons.

In July, local courts ruled in Sharma's favor, preventing him from being arrested, and Sharma requested a judicial review, which was heard by the Privy Council in October.

Sharma's lawyers argued that the charge against him was politically motivated.

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