Attorney General Anil Nandlall says while he will refrain from making any public statement regarding the controversy surrounding the administration of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), he is warning against any ‘grossly disrespectful and scurrilous attack’ upon the CCJ president, Justice Winston Anderson.
Nandlall, speaking on his weekly ‘Issues in the News’ programme on social media and television on Tuesday night, said that while there have been statements on the CCJ issue with ‘sobriety, integrity’ and maintaining the ‘sacrosanct aura that ought to attach to a matter of such grave importance’ he is nonetheless disappointed at a statement made by a political figure in Guyana on the issue.
Nandlall, who is also the Minister of Legal Affairs said that the political figure in question posted on social media a statement referring to Justice Anderson as a ‘cockroach’ and that he had been compromised a long time and it was time to ‘spray out this cockroach’.
‘This is a grossly disrespectful and scurrilous attack upon the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, the highest ranking judicial officer of the judiciary of Guyana, and it constitutes a scathing attack, not only on the Caribbean Court of Justice, but the administration of justice in Guyana.
‘I condemn this contemptuous publication in the strongest possible term, and I invite every right-thinking member of society to do the same. If such a statement had emanated from a political party that has any respect for the rule of law and for the administration of justice in Guyana, I would have demanded an apology and a retraction of that statement,’ Nandlall said.
‘But in this particular circumstances, I know that it would be futile were I to do so,’ he said, reminding his audience that whatever is unfolding publicly, ‘it is of fundamental importance that I remind that the Caribbean Court of Justice is Guyana’s final court, and it stands at the apex of the system administering justice in this country
‘Therefore, while persons can make public statements about the court and its members, even critical ones, they are obliged by law to do so respectfully and not to subject the court or its members to scurrilous criticisms and scandalising attacks.’
Nandlall warned ‘to do so would bring the administration of justice into disrepute and indeed constitute a contempt of court’.
The situation regarding the CCJ followed a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Sunday Express newspaper claiming that Justice Anderson had been accused by a majority of his fellow judges of governing the regional court in an ‘authoritarian’ and ‘dictatorial’ manner.
The newspaper said that the complaints range from unilaterally imposing a judicial dress code to allegations of ‘panel fixing’ and attempts to influence the outcome of cases.
On Tuesday, the heads of the judiciary of several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries said they have taken note of recent public reports regarding the administration and functioning of the Trinidad-based court.
In a joint statement, the heads of the judiciary of Barbados, The Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago said that the CCJ ‘occupies a position of profound importance as a regional institution and within the regional judicial architecture’.
The judicial leaders whose countries subscribe to the Original and or Appellate jurisdictions of the CCJ that was established on 16 April 2005, following the signing of its founding agreement on 14 February 2001, said the court is also vested with the power to adjudicate on matters involving the Revised Treaty of Chaguramas that governs the regional integration movement.
‘Its authority, like that of all courts, rests upon public confidence in the independence, impartiality, integrity and competence of its judges,’ they said, adding ‘we do not consider it appropriate to comment upon the merits of statements or allegations attributed to individual judges, nor upon matters arising within the internal deliberative or administrative processes of the Court.
‘However, we express grave concern about the breach of confidentiality which resulted in the disclosure of what appear to be internal communications.’
Nandlall, who told viewers that while, like many people, who have read the leaked emails published by the Trinidad newspaper, he has his own ‘views on the unfolding saga’ and he would ‘refrain from expressing them at this point in time.
‘For if I do, no doubt certain quarters will place the most perverse interpretation on them and will grossly misconstrue what I say to suit their own agenda. I will not give them that opportunity. I will not give them that occasion,’ he told viewers, describing the statement put out by the regional judicial leaders as one that ‘demonstrates judicial rectitude and restraint becoming of the institutions from which this statement emanates.
‘I leave that for the intelligent minds, the objective minds, to interpret and digest,’ he said, welcoming also the statement put out by the Bar Council of the Bar Association of Guyana, as one ‘that is equally sober (and) does not delve into the merits or demerits of the exchange between or among the judges, a statement that commendably stays clear of being dragged into that exchange, and a statement, I believe, that asserts the respect, the continuing respect, for the court and its processes’.
In a statement to the Sunday Express newspaper, the CCJ said it ‘is mindful that questions and allegations presented without the benefit of context, background, or an appreciation of the nature of judicial deliberations, collegial discussions, and institutional governance may lend themselves to misunderstanding or mischaracterisation.
‘For that reason, the Court wishes to reaffirm that the Judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice remain committed to the tenets of judicial conduct enshrined in the United Nations Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct-independence, impartiality, integrity, propriety, equality, competence, and diligence.
‘Maintaining public confidence in the Court is fundamental to upholding the rule of law and preserving trust in the administration of justice. The Caribbean Court of Justice remains committed to providing accessible fair and efficient justice for the people and states of the Caribbean Community.’