Lakhan urges caution over CCJ allegations

South­ern Lawyers' As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Saira Lakhan is urg­ing cau­tion fol­low­ing re­ports of in­ter­nal strife over the lead­er­ship at the Caribbean Court of Jus­tice (CCJ).

Lakhan said while the al­le­ga­tions were se­ri­ous and should not be dis­missed, con­clu­sions should not be reached about any in­di­vid­ual judge based sole­ly on al­le­ga­tions and cor­re­spon­dence in the pub­lic do­main.

Her com­ments come af­ter a me­dia re­port of in­ter­nal emails among CCJ judges, in which al­le­ga­tions were raised con­cern­ing the lead­er­ship of CCJ Pres­i­dent Jus­tice Win­ston An­der­son. The re­ports in­clud­ed claims of “dic­ta­to­r­i­al” lead­er­ship, pan­el fix­ing and at­tempts to in­flu­ence court de­ci­sions.