ATTORNEY GENERAL John Jeremie last Monday called a special meeting of his entire staff at his Cabildo Chamber, St. Vincent Street, Port of Spain to dispel rumours that he is stepping down from office.

Staff members summoned to the Conference Room were taken by surprise over the AG’s announcement of a rumour they had not themselves heard before.

In the impromptu five-minute meeting, the AG told his staff he had no intention of resigning and gave them the assurance that he is going to the end in his legal battle with Chief Justice (CJ) Sat Sharma to have him prosecuted on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

“It may have been a psychological thing to bolster the AG’s image and to give us confidence that he is in for the long battle,” one employee said.

But some workers in the AG’s department are accusing him of creating the rumour in the wake of the Law Association’s move to bring a charge of contempt against him for comments on Justice Judith Jones’ decision to stop the arrest of the CJ.

The Law Association had met last week at the Hall of Justice to discuss whether the AG’s address to the nation on the CJ impasse constituted a contempt of court, the association agreed to get an opinion of a senior counsel to decide on its next move.

Jeremie lashed back at the association, saying that “it had chosen to engage in a debate on a contempt motion against me instead of the crisis facing the administration of justice in this country.”

Jeremie also got in a war of words with the association’s president Russell Martineau SC criticising him for chairing the meeting to bring a contempt charge against him.

He said Martineau should not have presided over a meeting involving his client, the CJ.

The Criminal Bar Association subsequently criticised Jeremie for his comments in the CJ’s dispute.