Judges throw out appeal

In a consolidated appeal filed by John Henry Smith, Barbara Gomes, Galbaransingh, Amrith Maharaj and Northern Construction, the group contended that former chief magistrate Sherman McNicolls should not have been allowed to continue to adjudicate the Piarco I prosecution, especially since the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) had filed disciplinary charges against him.

In their written ruling yesterday, in which they dismissed all arguments brought by the Piarco 1 defendants, Justices of Appeal Gregory Smith, Peter Rajkumar and Charmaine Pemberton held that all allegations raised to support the bias contention were, ‘ultimately unsustainable’ as they were in relation to unrelated matters and had no bearing on magisterial proceedings.

The judges noted that they would have been ‘hard pressed to perceive any link between these matters and the actions and decisions of the chief magistrate in relation to these appellants.’ The Piarco defendants 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 had called on McNicolls to step down from presiding over the proceedings in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court, prior to him committing them to stand trial.

McNicolls refused to step down.

Their challenge was thrown out by the court and they also lost a bid to appeal the three new charges which were instituted by the Chief Magistrate.

In their ruling on the issue, the appellate court judges said such complaints could have been properly raised at further stages of the criminal proceedings and also held that the leave was properly denied by the trial judge. The Piarco inquiry, commonly referred to as Piarco 1, had been ongoing for over five years before McNicolls. The eight people and three companies before the court were committed to stand trial on January 7, 2008.

In January 2016, the Privy Council dashed all hopes by the Piarco defendants not having to face trial in the local courts for their alleged involvement in the Piarco International Airport fraud scandals. In the Piarco 2 prosecution, which is currently ongoing in the magistrates court, the defendants which include Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson, former ministers Sadiq Baksh and Brian Kuei Tung and former Airports Authority executives Amrith Maharaj and Tyrone Gopee and companies Northern Construction Limited and Maritime General Insurance - are also seeking to have senior magistrate Ejenny Espinet step down from hearing that inquiry, on the basis of bias.

Lawyers for the accused have asked Espinet to recuse herself and she is expected to rule on these submissions tomorrow. The Piarco 1 defendants were represented by Edward Fitzgerald, QC; Fyard Hosein, SC; Annette Mamchan and Robin Otway while Senior Counsel Avory Sinanan, Larry Lalla and Brent James represented the late chief magistrate (McNicolls) and the Attorney General while Martin Daly, SC, appeared for the DPP.