Businessmen mount another legal challenge in Piarco case

Justices of Appeal Gregory Smith, Peter Rajkumar and Charmaine Pemberton are presiding over an appeal filed by John Henry Smith, Barbara Gomes, Galbaransingh, Amrith Maharaj and Northern Construction.

Two days had been set aside for the hearing, however, additional time was given to the Piarco defendants to sort out some discrepancies relating to their record of appeal, which will now be heard over two days in December.

The Piarco defendants have complained of the former Chief Magistrate’s participation in the airport inquiry, alleging that he received significant financial and other advantages and favours from the then Attorney General and as a result his adjudication has been in contravention of their rights to be heard by an independent and impartial tribunal.

They have stated that the former chief magistrate should not have continued to adjudicate at the inquiry, especially since the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) had filed disciplinary charges against him.

The two had called on the Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls to step down from presiding over the proceedings in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court, prior to him committing them to stand trial.

Mc Nicolls refused to step down.