By Stephen Cummings
Caribbean Net NewsTrinidad and Tobago Correspondent
Email: stephen@caribbeannetnews.com
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: Trinidad and Tobago 's Chief Justice, Satnarine Sharma has been suspended from office with immediate effect.
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| Trinidad and Tobago 's Chief Justice, Satnarine Sharma |
Prime Minister Patrick Manning acting in accordance with Section 137 of the country's Constitution advised President George Maxwell Richards to issue, by letter, the order of suspension. The letter was delivered to Justice Sharma on Wednesday around 10:30 am as he was about to take up duty.
It is the second time in just under 12 months Justice Sharma age 62 had to step down from office. Both follow a charge of attempting to pervert the course of public justice. There are claims that he attempted to influence the outcome of a trial in which former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday was involved.
Appeal Court Judge, Justice Roger Hamil-Smith is now acting as Chief Justice of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago . His appointment came within 24 hours of the order to suspend Justice Sharma. President Richards earlier agreed to the setting up of a tribunal to investigate whether Justice Sharma is guilty of misconduct in public office and whether he should be removed.
Justice Sharma is due to retire on January 24 2008 and is most likely to miss the opening of the next law term in Trinidad. Speaking to local journalists he said he had been treated like a common criminal not given a chance to properly clear his desk.
"It's now up to the population to decide. Everything is out in the public and the public will draw their own conclusion. It seems that the tribunal was set up with the sole purpose of suspending me," Justice Sharma told journalists in an immediate response to the latest development.
The unfolding events have shaken the foundation of the country's judicial system. Justice Sharma has been claiming political victimization mainly on the part of the Manning-led administration saying that there is a conspiracy concocted to destroy his reputation and hound him out of office.
A date for the start of the tribunal hearing involving Justice Sharma is yet to be set. Attorneys for Justice Sharma in the meantime have been preparing for a long legal battle. They say they will take the matter all the way to the London Privy Council if the need arises. |
