Fraud Squad detectives yesterday obtained a warrant to search the Chambers of Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma at the Hall of Justice.
By Darren BahawThis move has come as the investigation into allegations that Shar-ma attempted to influence Chief Magistrate Sher-man McNicolls in the recently concluded trial of former prime minister Basdeo Panday draws to a close.
The action has also occurred while Sharma is attending an overseas conference in the Czech Republic and while lead investigator, Assistant Commissioner of Police Wellington Virgil, remains at a private health institution recovering from minor surgery to his left foot.
Armed with a search warrant, three police officers-acting Inspectors Raphael Romany and Wayne Mc Farlane and Woman Police Cpl Charmain Williams - arrived at the Knox Street entrance of the Hall of Justice shortly after 3 p.m. and went directly to the third floor where Sharma's office is located. They however were unable to execute the warrant because the custodian of the document that they intended to seize had already left.
Arrangements have been made for the police officers to return to collect the document.
On May 11, Virgil, who now heads the Police Special Branch, was mandated by then acting Commissioner of Police Glen Roach to commence investigations into a report made by McNicolls. That very day, McNicolls was summoned away from court to provide police with a detailed statement of the allegations.
Virgil and Roach visited Sharma the following day at the Hall of Justice, providing him with a verbal summary of the investigations and advised the Chief Justice of his constitutional rights. Two of Sharma's attorneys, Russell Martineau SC and Desmond Allum SC, were present during the meeting.
News of the explosive controversy against Sharma broke on the eve of Prime Minister Patrick Manning departure to Europe, on May 9, causing Manning to eventually cancel his trip. Manning had confronted Sharma with Mc Nicolls's report during a meeting at his Whitehall Office on May 8.
Manning announced on May 10, that he was triggering the provisions of Section 137 of the Constitution to advise President George Maxwell Richards to appoint a tribunal to investigate whether Sharma should be removed from office. He also stated that he had passed a copy of McNicolls' report to Attorney General John Jeremie for appropriate action.
Jeremie passed the file to Roach for immediate action and also forwarded a copy to the Henderson, who has since stepped aside from dealing with the matter, and delegated his authority to Deputy DPP Carla Brown-Antoine.
In a statement to Parliament on May 12, Manning appeared to have backtracked saying that he was still gathering information and will not recommend to the President the question of removing the Chief Justice from office unless he was satisfied that there was sufficient basis for doing so.
Manning also admitted that during his meeting with Sharma he offered him the opportunity to resign from office rather than face the ordeal of a criminal prosecution.
McNicolls first lodged a formal complaint about the alleged advance of the Chief Justice to Attorney General John Jeremie on March 31, and Jeremie, in turn, reported the matter to Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul, Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson and Chairman of the Integrity Commission Gordon Deane.
Sharma has since obtained an injunction preventing Manning from moving forward with impeachment proceedings against him and is also challenging another wave of impeachment proceedings regarding allegations made by Jeremie and Henderson that he tried to influence them to drop a murder charge against his friend Prof Vijay Naraynsingh.
