PORT-OF-SPAIN (Trinidad Express):
TWO MONTHS before the trial of former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday even began, Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma reportedly told the lead prosecutor in the case, Sir Timothy Cassel, Q.C., that the case against Panday was weak.
Sharma and Cassel were travelling aboard a BWIA flight on January 5, from London to Piarco, when Sharma struck up a conversation with the British attorney as they sat close by.
In a statement given to the police, Cassel recalled that Sharma raised Panday's upcoming trial in passing, suggesting that the prosecution's case against Panday was not terribly strong since it was the tradition in Hindu families that the wife looked after the finances.
In response, Cassel said he told Sharma that he should read the opening speech in Panday's trial before commenting on the strength of the case.
URGING PROSECUTOR
Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls in his report told police that the Chief Justice had summoned him to his chambers some time before Panday's trial had started. During the course of the meeting, Sharma, on his own volition, told him that he was on a flight from London with Cassel and that he had told the prosecutor about the practice in Hindu families to have the wife take care of the finances of the home.
McNicolls said he thought Sharma's comment was unusual because he had not even raised the Panday case and paid no attention to the statement. He said he, however, became curious when Panday testified in his own defence and repeated the claim that in Hindu families the wives usually took care of the finances at home and noted that a defence witness, Pundit Parasram Maharaj, testified to support that contention.
The Chief Magistrate reported that he found the Chief Justice's demeanour to be very unusual.
McNicolls also reported that Sharma requested to see him during the course of Panday's trial, before the case had been closed. During that meeting, the Chief Justice reportedly urged McNicolls to pay particular attention to the submissions made by Panday's lead defence attorney Allan Newman, Q.C.
