The Law Association has called on Chief Justice Ivor Archie to publicly address allegations that he discussed the security arrangements for judges with a personal friend.
In a press release issued yesterday, the association’s secretary Elena Araujo indicated that the council had met and discussed the allegations made against Archie in a report in the Sunday Express newspaper.
The allegations contained in the article were reportedly raised by council members during a monthly meeting on Tuesday evening.
Araujo stated that the council felt that the claim that Archie attempted to persuade the judges to change their State-provided security in favour of a private company, in which his friend works, was unsubstantiated.
She said: “The article reports a meeting between the Chief Justice and his fellow Supreme Court judges at which he suggested the retention of a private security firm, but that he did not identify any particular firm.”
She added: “It also reports that he raised an issue concerning security arrangements with National Security personnel which was forwarded to the Special Branch and the acting Commissioner of Police, but that he did not suggest the retention of private security.”
However, the council was careful to note that allegation, that Archie discussed the judges’ meeting with his friend afterwards, was a concern that had to be addressed.
“No further information is given in the article about the content and context of the communication. But the fact that it may have occurred, and that it concerned a presumptively confidential meeting among members of the Judiciary about an obviously sensitive matter, calls for an explanation,” Araujo said as she said that the council was calling on Archie to respond to that specific issue.
The allegations against Archie comes months after the association’s membership passed a no confidence motion in him and the members of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) over their handling of the fiasco caused by the short-lived judicial appointment of former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar.
Ayers-Caesar resigned two weeks after she was appointed a judge, amid public furore over 53 cases that she left unfinished when she took up the post. She has since sued Archie and the JLSC claiming that they were aware of the unfinished cases and pressured her to resign.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian after the motion was passed in early July, Archie refused to step down based on it. Archie has also been criticised in the past over his frequent overseas travel.