Jerome Lynch, KC, chairman of the Paria Commission of Enquiry (CoE), on Wednesday said the commission had received letters from lawyers representing Heritage Petroleum and Paria Fuel Trading Company accusing its commissioners of displaying "apparent bias." Lynch "wholeheartedly" rejected the allegations.
The letters also suggested the commissioners be recused from the enquiry.
Speaking at a virtual media conference on Wednesday, Lynch also apologised to the families of the victims of the Paria tragedy for the latest extension of the CoE report's deadline.
On February 25, 2022, divers Rishi Nagassar, Kazim Ali Jr, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry and Christopher Boodram were sucked into a a 30-inch underwater pipeline belonging to Paria Fuel Trading Co Ltd on which they were doing maintenance work. All died except Boodram.
The CoE was originally due to submit its report to the president in May. But in a statement on May 5 it said it had written to President Christine Kangaloo seeking an extension until August 31.
On Wednesday, Lynch said there had been some media speculation that the delay resulted from either political or company interference "in some way."
He said, "I can state categorically that that is not the case. If there were even a whiff of such an approach, I would make that very public indeed."
Lynch said the Government, particularly Energy Minister Stuart Young, had done all it could to facilitate and expedite the report.
"I am confident they will wish to publish it in short order once it is concluded and submitted. We place no blame on anyone else's door for this delay.
"I have decided that we will take a little more time and add additional safeguards to ensure fairness to all and limit the potential for any further litigation aimed at thwarting the legitimate aims of this inquiry."
He said the commission had received letters from lawyers representing workers from Kenson, one of the companies involved in the enquiry, on August 2. On Tuesday, it received letters from lawyers representing Heritage Petroleum and Paria.
"Both suggested they have been unfairly treated and that the commissioners, I suspect, primarily me, have displayed an apparent bias and that we should be recused," Lynch said.
"I do not deal with the merits of those complaints now, as they have yet to be fully articulated."
A press conference, he said, was not the right forum to make such decisions.
He added, "While I wholeheartedly reject those allegations, I would have thought that if there was to be an application for recusal on the grounds of apparent bias, it is normal in the first instance for that to be made before the tribunal engaged in the process."
He said there had been no request for the CoE to resume sitting to hear such an application, and no such application has been put before the commission.
After the conference, a reporter submitted further questions on the bias claims, asking Lynch if he was friends with Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, and Gilbert Peterson, SC.
Lynch was also asked whet
