CCJ Crisis Deepens: Another Judge Accuses The President Of Abusing Authority
Originally published by News Americas Now Read the original
By News Americas Now Staff Writer
News Americas Now, NY, NY, Mon. Oct. 19, 2026: The crisis inside the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has escalated on two fronts, with a sitting judge now accusing the court’s own president of abusing his authority, and lawyers in a separate, high-profile extradition case demanding he step aside entirely.
The leak-probe allegations
According to reporting in Trinidad’s Sunday Express, Justice Peter Jamadar has accused CCJ President Winston Anderson of administrative overreach after Jamadar’s administrative officer, identified as Ms. Simmons-Peters, was questioned about her outside activities under the cover of an internal investigation into a media leak. Jamadar alleges she was warned she could face up to two years in prison under Trinidad and Tobago’s Computer Misuse Act, and that her files and communications were scrutinized as part of the probe.
In a six-page email reportedly sent to Anderson and fellow judges on September 4, Jamadar characterized the episode as “abuse of power,” arguing that Anderson – who Jamadar says is himself a party to the underlying dispute the leak investigation was meant to examine — should not have had oversight of an inquiry that reached into his staff’s conduct. The Sunday Express reported that another CCJ judge, Justice Rajnauth-Lee, received a similarly worded email as part of the same investigation, which was led by the court’s IT manager, identified as Mr. Burgess.
A second conflict-of-interest claim: the Mohamed extradition case
The leak-probe dispute lands on top of a separate, still-unresolved conflict-of-interest controversy tied to Anderson’s handling of the extradition case against Guyana opposition leader Azruddin Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed, who are fighting extradition to the United States on fraud and money-laundering charges.
Defense attorneys Roysdale Forde SC, Siand Dhurjon and Damien DaSilva sent a 14-page letter to the CCJ Registrar on August 14 demanding Anderson recuse himself from all proceedings involving their clients, ahead of hearings that resumed September 3. The letter cited leaked internal communications in which Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji accused Anderson of trying to “single-handedly override judicial independence” to force through a decision the panel majority opposed in the Mohameds’ case.
The attorneys also pointed to a separate claim by PNC Leader Aubrey Norton, who said in an August 11 interview that Anderson called him seeking to broker agreement on filling Guyana’s Chief Justice and Chancellor posts with government-preferred candidates — a role the attorneys argue belongs constitutionally to Guyana’s president and opposition leader, not the CCJ’s president. Anderson denied discussing the appointments for personal benefit and denied panel-fixing, though he acknowledged, per the Jamaica Gleaner, that he may have handled an unrelated judicial dress-code matter “too strongly.” The Mohamed camp’s lawyers said the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission’s announced independent review would not provide timely relief given the imminent hearings, and set their own seven-day deadline for a response.
A widening pattern
Together, the two episodes mark the second and third waves of reporting in two months to raise questions about Anderson’s leadership: in August, five of the CCJ’s six sitting judges were reported to have challenged his conduct over allegations of panel-fixing, which Anderson publicly denied on August 14; the Mohamed recusal demand followed days later; and the Jamadar leak-probe allegations, reported in October, suggest the internal rift has not settled.
The CCJ serves as the final court of appeal for several CARICOM member states and as the court of original jurisdiction interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas for the whole Caribbean Community, meaning the credibility of its presidency carries weight for trade rulings and constitutional matters well beyond Trinidad and Tobago or Guyana.
Sunday Express reported it sent requests for comment to Anderson, the CCJ and the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission on September 30 and again on October 5, and had received no response by its October 11 print edition.
News Americas Now has not independently verified the underlying allegations in either matter and is reporting on the basis of the cited outlets’ investigations. This story will be updated as the CCJ, Justice Anderson, the RJLSC or the Mohamed defense team respond.
