Policemen call on Sharma

Assistant Commissioner of Police Wellington Virgil and acting Inspector Raphael Romany went to Sharma to tie up loose ends in their investigations into a report that Sharma attempted to influence Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls to find former prime minister Basdeo Panday not guilty on charges of failing to declare his London bank account to the Integrity Commission.

Panday, 73, was charged by Virgil on September 18, 2002 for knowingly failing to declare his London account for the years 1997, 1998, and 1999.

On April 24, Mc Nicolls, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court, found Panday guilty of the offences.

Panday was fined $60,000, sent to jail for two years and ordered to pay the State $1.6 million, which represented the amount in the account for the three years. After spending four days at the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca, Panday was released on $350,000 bail.

In May, Mc Nicolls reported Sharma to Attorney General John Jeremie and an investigation was ordered.

Virgil was appointed to head the probe. He visited the Hall of Justice on several occasions during which he interviewed Sharma and took away documents from the Chief Justice’s Chambers. Virgil’s visit yesterday was the latest in the investigation.