PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - Former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday has retaken his seat in Trinidad and Tobago's Parliament after an appeals court overturned his conviction for failing to disclose a foreign bank account to authorities.

Panday, who was expelled from the 36-seat legislature in April 2006 after he was found guilty of failing to declare a London bank account, returned to Opposition benches on Wednesday, eliciting cheers from colleagues in his United National Congress.

An appeals court on Tuesday overturned the conviction and prison sentence imposed against Panday. It also ordered a retrial, saying it believed the chief magistrate who convicted him was biased against the ex-prime minister, the first top official of East Indian descent.

House Speaker Barry Sinanan told reporters he will seek a High Court opinion to determine whether Panday, who led the twin-island nation from 1995 to 2001, could resume his political duties with a retrial pending. The date for a retrial has not been set.

Panday and Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning are bitter political rivals in the former British colony where the population is almost evenly split between blacks, who support the governing party, and those of East Indian descent, who back the Opposition.

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