Israel Khan confirms:

A WARRANT has been issued for the arrest of Chief Justice Sat Sharma on a charge of perverting the course of justice.

The warrant was signed by a magistrate on Friday for the Chief Justice to be charged with the offence, but the warrant could not be executed because Sharma’s lawyers went before Justice Judith Jones on Friday night and succeeded in getting her to stop any attempts to execute the warrant.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Israel Khan, SC, who has been retained by the police in the matter and advised Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul, said that a charge has been made against the CJ, but it has not been executed because of action taken by Sharma’s lawyers.

Early yesterday, Sharma’s attorneys went back to Jones at the High Court, and were successful in amending the order to include the name of Paul, who in a statement on Saturday had said that he was the one who gave the police orders to execute the warrant on Friday.

However, on Friday night Sharma locked himself in a room at his house for over two hours while his lawyers went back to Jones to stop the police action.

With the Chief Justice at his home on Friday night were Justice of Appeal Stanley John and one of Sharma’s attorneys, Russel Martineau.

Paul was the fourth person to be added to the list of persons to take any action against the Chief Justice.

The first order by Jones on July 11 granted an injunction to stop criminal charges against Sharma being laid by Deputy DPP Carla Brown-Antoine.

Then on July 14, Jones allowed Sharma to block ACP Wellington Virgil from charging him.

On Friday night in a late sitting, Jones again allowed Sharma to block his arrest by amending the order to include the 7,000 members of the entire Police Service from taking any action against Sharma.

Following Paul’s Saturday statement that he had given instructions to a police officer to execute the warrant, Sharma’s attorneys returned to Jones for another amendment yesterday morning, which now prevented Paul from taking any action.

The order with the several amendments mean that no policeman in Trinidad and Tobago can execute the warrant for the arrest of Sharma which has been properly signed by a magistrate. This is the first time in the history of Trinidad and Tobago that such action has been taken by any one under investigation, stopping charges being laid against him or her.

Paul said on Saturday that in all his 40 years as a police officer, “I have never known of any process which could have had the effect of halting or interfering with a police prosecution except for discontinuance by the Director of Public Prosecutions after charges were laid.”

Jones is expected to hear the applications tomorrow.

If the Chief Justice is charged, the President has no option but to remove the Chief Justice from office.

At a press conference yesterday, Israel Khan SC said he was consulted by Paul on the matter involving the Chief Justice and advised him that a criminal charge must be laid, and that a warrant should first be obtained from a magistrate to arrest the Chief Justice.

Khan said yesterday it is for the court to decide the strength of the evidence against the Chief Justice.

“No one is above the law and the country must know that a warrant has been issued and the police had no alternative in the matter,” said Khan.

He added, “Who is the Chief Justice?”

“Government ministers have been charged and went to court, the Chairman of the PNM has been charged and is before the court, a minister was charged and is before the court, the Leader of the Opposition was charged and found guilty, and the Rasta has been charged, and all this is due process, so who is the Chief Justice to try to stop his arrest,” said Khan.

He said that he hoped the police will treat simple citizens of the country the same way that they treated the Chief Justice on Friday night.

He made it clear that the police acted within their rights when they went to the home of the Chief Justice on Friday night to arrest him.

“I have been retained to prosecute the Chief Justice and if it takes five years he will be prosecuted,” said Khan.

Yesterday, attorneys for the CJ said the order granted yesterday means that having regard to the statements made by the Commissioner on Saturday, in which he said it was his decision to institute criminal proceedings against the Chief Justice, the CJ’s attorneys felt it was appropriate to go back to court to ensure that the order obtained on Friday night was varied, so as to “catch this purported decision of the CoP.”

Alvin Fitzpatrick SC, leading Rajiv Persad and Adrian Bryne secured that order from Jones.

Yesterday, the council of the Law Association met at its St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain office to discuss the police action on Friday involving the Chief Justice, and issued a statement to members of the media.

The meeting was chaired by Russel Martineau SC, who is also a lawyer for the Chief Justice.

The release signed by Patricia Dindyal, Honorary Secretary, stated that the council is of the view that where a judge makes an order, the purpose of which is to prohibit a certain course of action, it is unlawful and constitutes an undermining of the administration of justice for anyone to take any step, the effect of which is deliberately to frustrate and/or circumvent that purpose. Yesterday, Chief Justice Sat Sharma when contacted at his Maraval home said he did not wish to comment at this time on the series of events.

Meanwhile, Justice of Appeal Stanley John issued a statement late yesterday noting that contrary to reports, he never communicated with any judge on Friday nor did he intervene with attempts by the police to arrest the Chief Justice.