Judge: Law Assoc acted unlawfully by ‘investigating’ CJ

CHIEF JUSTICE Ivor Archie has successfully shot down the Law Association’s continued investigation into allegations against him.

Justice Nadia Kangaloo on Tuesday ruled that the association’s continued investigation of Archie was unlawful and was a shadow of Section 137 of the Constitution, which provides strict guidelines for the removal of a judge from office.

Archie fired a pre-emptive strike to block the association from continuing its investigation by presenting a report compiled by an internal investigative team and the advice of two external advisers to its membership at a special meeting on March 15.

The allegations which concerned the association were that Archie discussed the issue of personal security for judges with someone outside the judiciary and that he recommended people to the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) for accelerated housing grants.

In his legal salvo, Archie argued that the association was not constitutionally or statutorily empowered to carry out any investigation into his conduct.

The judge agreed.

She said, however, the association was not guilty of apparent bias against Archie.