Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) President Justice Winston Anderson on Friday broke his silence on allegations surrounding his leadership of the regional body, describing as “entirely unfounded and untrue” suggestions that he interfered with the composition of panels and sought to influence judgments.

At the same time he characterised the disclosure of a series of e-mail between himself and colleague judges to the Sunday Express newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago “as the most troubling aspect of this entire episode”, and condemned, “in the strongest possible terms, the unauthorised disclosure and publication of confidential material relating to the internal deliberations and confidential correspondence of the court”.

According to Justice Anderson, “such disclosures and their publication are wholly unacceptable and strike at one of the fundamental principles upon which every independent judiciary depends”.