CJ refuses to comment on alleged ‘plan’ to remove him

CHIEF Justice Sat Sharma yesterday refused to comment on Opposition allegations that the PNM had a plan to remove him from office, and the cancellation of yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference was seen by some as Government’s way of avoiding questions from the media on this issue. During a news conference at Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday’s Port-of-Spain office yesterday, UNC chairman Wade Mark claimed that Attorney-General John Jeremie and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson knew of a plan to remove Sharma from office and this “latest excursion into adventurism,” as he described it, was directly related to a number of recent judgments which have been highly critical and unfavourable towards the Government. 

The Chief Justice said he had no comment to make on Mark’s statement, but some senior members of the legal profession expressed concern about developments and stoutly defended Sharma. Mark first raised the allegation during Tuesday’s sitting of the Senate, and during that sitting, Jeremie told him: “The Constitution does not allow a Government to remove a Chief Justice. It is not possible. An Executive cannot remove a Chief Justice from office. It is ignorance of the highest order and highly inflammatory language.” Mark said the UNC was informed about the alleged plan 24 hours before he spoke in the Senate.  “We understand that representation has already been made to the President of Trinidad and Tobago, Prof George Maxwell Richards,” Mark said.

Asked whether the Opposition spoke with Sharma before deciding to go public, Mark replied: “We have brought it to no one’s attention. We are bringing it to you and through you to the nation of TT that information has reached us in the last 24 hours that this plan has been hatched. I would like you to approach both the AG of this country and the DPP to address those issues because this is the information that we have. We are not in office, they are. We would like them to tell you and the nation whether or not representation has been made to the President in an effort to remove the Chief Justice of our nation from office.” He declined to name the sources from which the Opposition obtained this information, saying the media were well versed in the practice of keeping its sources confidential.

Asked if the UNC’s sources indicated whether or not Prime Minister Patrick Manning was aware of this alleged plan, Mark said: “Whether the Prime Minister has given his blessing, I would ask the media to reach him at Whitehall. I understand that he is having a press briefing at 2 pm.” However yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing was cancelled and no new date was reportedly given to media personnel who turned up at Whitehall for the usual Thursday conference. Government officials said it was not unusual for the post-Cabinet news conference to be cancelled and there were some periods last year when no briefing was held after the weekly Cabinet meeting at Whitehall.

Officials denied any connection between Mark’s revelation of a plan against the Chief Justice and the fact that there was no post-Cabinet news conference yesterday, and said the AG had already responded to Mark’s allegations in the Senate on Tuesday. Mark charged that “this is yet another attempt by a regime that is completely intoxicated with power to nakedly interfere in the affairs and workings of the independent Judiciary.” He said this alleged plan could contaminate the country’s justice process and warned the Government that “it is playing with fire.” On Wednesday in the House, Siparia MP, Kamla Persad Bissessar, said that the Opposition  UNC would come to the defence of the Judiciary against “any and every attempt at harassment and intimidation from the Government.”