Attorney General Basil Williams could face serious sanction over his behaviour in the court of Justice Franklin Holder two weeks ago.
Holder has since tendered a complaint to the acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings-Edwards and the matter is being deliberated on.
In his column in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran set out the various possibilities.
Noting that there are rules about the behaviour of lawyers in court, Ramkarran said that the Judge could there and then have cited Williams for contempt in the face of the court, as he indicated in his letter to the Chancellor. To do so he would have had to inform Williams that he was charging him with contempt, state the particulars of his conduct which amounted to contempt and invite him to answer the charge. Ramkarran said that Williams could have answered it then, or asked for an adjournment to mount a defence, or pleaded guilty, later. If Williams pleaded or was found guilty, he could have been fined or worse, imprisoned.
