‘Dynamite’ in Richards’ speech

However Senior Counsel Martin Daly said he interpreted the President’s speech to mean that “executive action” was in the works. He said it might take the form of an “Occah Seapaul (limited) state of emergency.

Daly said the President’s conversations with the Justices of Appeal and Justice Judith Jones, who is sitting in the case, was “highly significant”. “This is dynamite,” he described it.

Richards’ address to the nation was his first pronouncement on the “deep and urgent crisis” arising out of allegations made against Chief Justice Sat Sharma and the consequent battle between Sharma and the State, a battle that is now the subject of intense activity in the courts.

Richards stressed that the status quo could not continue and that something had to be done and quickly. “I am faced with a set of circumstances, unprecedented in nature, in which, in my deliberate judgment, urgent action must be taken in defence of the rule of law and the administration of justice in the Republic,” he stated.

The President however stressed that that action could not amount to the undermining of the principle of due process and the rule of law.

The President indicated that he had already decided what needed to be done to “restore the confidence of the citizenry in the rule of law and the administration of justice”. He however did not indicate what his decision was and his speech ended in an anticlimatic fashion with a promise to get back to the public in the very near future. He pointed out that “before arriving at my decision” he had met with every single judge of the Court of Appeal. Richards who met with Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Attorney General John Jeremie yesterday, stated, “I have in my considered judgement decided that certain courses of action are immediately required as a matter of necessity in defence of the rule of law and the proper administration of justice in Trinidad and Tobago.”

Richards lamented that the “speedy determination” of the first complaint against the Chief Justice (in the matter involving the Vijay Naraynsingh matter) after 15 months, “had not come to pass” as he expected. He added that this situation was complicated by “new and very serious matters” (arising out of the complaint against the CJ of interference in the Basdeo Panday trial) which are themselves the subject of a criminal complaint and court proceedings.

The President who noted that his dilemma had not confronted a Head of State in Trinidad or in any Commonwealth country, said the framers of the Constitution could not have envisaged and provided for every conceivable eventuality. “In particular the prospect of a sitting Chief Justice being himself the subject of a criminal complaint, in all likelihood, would never have occurred to them,” he said.

The President further noted that “as if this (the two complaints) were not sufficent” events of Friday July 14, the night of the failed attempt to arrest the Chief Justice, had “greatly troubled” him.

“I have read a disturbing report of the Commissioner of Police in relation to that incident. Further, I have been visited by Justice Judith Jones as well as the Chief Justice. Without forming a view of these matters, I have concluded that the public interest requires a thorough investigation forthwith,” he said.

The President reminded the population that he could not be restrained or questioned by way of an injunction, in the exercise of his constitutional functions. “I am not capable of being the subject of injunctive relief pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution,” he said.

In an apparent reference to the Chief Justice the President stressed that no one was above the law. “There must be one law for all, rich or poor, big or small,” he said, reiterating a point made by the Attorney General in two previous statements.

Daly referred to the doctrine of necessity which would give the President the option of stepping in some other way. Daly added that the President could take executive action without any reference to the Chief Justice.

He added that the (exclusive) publication by Newsday of the telephone calls between the CJ residence to the office and cellphone of Judge Jones and the events of the night of July 14 dramatically altered the course of the crisis.

Daly said the country had long passed the time for a Presidental appointment of a Tribunal to investigate the Chief Justice for the first complaint and some other action was indicated.

Daly pointed out that the language used — words such as “necessity”, “crisis”, “urgent”- pointed to definite executive action.

According to Section 8. (2) of the Constitution the President may declare a State of Emergency if he is satisfied “that action has been taken, or is immediately threatened, by any person, of such a nature and on so extensive a scale, as to be likely to endanger the public safety or to deprive the community or any substantial portion of the community of supplies or services essential to life”.

Daly raised the question of no mention being made of consultation with the Opposition Leader. And when asked “which one”, he replied, “There is an official Leader of Opposition. But the question of confidentiality arises”.