Port-of-Spain, Trinidad --THE BATTLE between two of the country's most important men took a new twist Tuesday when Prime Minister Patrick Manning told Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma to choose between resigning from office or being charged with attempting to interfere in the recent trial of UNC founder Basdeo Panday.

The ultimatum was issued to the Chief Justice following allegations from Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls, who recently convicted Panday and sent him to jail, that Sharma attempted to convince him to find the former opposition leader not guilty.

Manning summoned Sharma to his Whitehall office Tueday in a hastily-called meeting and confronted the Chief Justice with the May 5 report McNicolls had submitted to him (the Prime Minister) before issuing the ultimatum that he resign or face prosecution on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of public justice.

But word coming from Sharma's camp suggests that the Chief Justice does not intend to go down without a fight, alleging that McNicolls, the Attorney General and a top CL Financial executive conspired together to frame him after he confronted the Chief Magistrate about "a shady" multi-million-dollar land deal.

Sharma is currently engaged in a legal battle to stave off impeachment proceedings initiated by Manning over allegations that he tried to influence both Attorney General John Jeremie and Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson to drop a murder charge against his friend Prof Vijay Naraynsingh.

McNicolls first reported the matter to Jeremie claiming that Sharma had summoned him to his office during the Panday trial, and before the verdict was given on April 24, suggesting ways in which the ruling should be written to vindicate the former prime minister of the three charges of failing to declare a London bank account to the Integrity Commission.

Jeremie, in turn, reported the matter to both Manning and Henderson. McNicolls, in his report, also stated that Sharma requested that a draft of the judgment be submitted to the Chief Justice before the verdict was announced.

In his detailed report, McNicolls made admissions about a land transaction involving Home Construction Limited (HCL), a subsidiary of the CL Financial Group of companies, and his approach to the company to cancel an agreement to re-purchase a parcel of land at Millennium Park, Trincity, after Chairman of CL Financial Lawrence Duprey, testified in Panday's defence.

The Chief Magistrate stated that he had purchased the plot of land in October 2005, but two months later, he decided to re-sell the property to HCL for $4 million because of his decision to get married but the company noted that it was not their policy to re-purchase lands they had sold.

Shortly after Duprey testified, McNicolls received a cheque of $400,000, from CL Financial subsidiary, as the ten per cent down-payment for the property. McNicolls reportedly returned the cheque to HCL saying that he was no longer interested in selling the land because of the negative inference that could be drawn.

The Chief Magistrate stated in his report that he kept his distance from Sharma, avoiding any contact, until after he gave his ruling, finding Panday guilty on all three charges and sentencing the 72-year-old veteran politician to the maximum penalty of a $20,000 fine on each charge and two years imprisonment. In addition, McNicolls ordered Panday to repay the State almost $1.6 million, representing the balances held in the account for the years ending 1997, 1998, and 1999.

After his ruling, McNicolls stated in his report that he was summoned by Sharma who accused him of reporting him (Sharma) to the Prime Minister and called on the Chief Magistrate to prepare a statement denying the allegations. McNicolls stated that he insisted that if he was going to write a report he would write the truth.

Following the verdict, McNicolls approached HCL to once again re-purchase the land and on May 5, he received a ten per cent down-payment of the agreed price of $3.9 million, the same day he submitted the report to Manning.

However, sources close to Sharma contend that the Chief Justice had got wind of the land transaction between McNicolls and HCL and had threatened to initiate disciplinary action against Mc Nicolls, on May 1 and, as a consequence, four days later McNicolls reported him to the Prime Minister.