THE Supreme Court yesterday issued an order halting the continuation of the commission of enquiry into the financial sector meltdown of the 1990s and the subsequent intervention of the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (Finsac).

Justice Ingrid Mangatal made the order after acceding to an application for leave to apply for a Judicial Review of retired Justice Boyd Carey’s refusal to withdraw himself as chairman of the enquiry amid allegations of perceived bias and “procedural unfairness”.

The stay of the enquiry will remain in effect pending the outcome of the legal proceedings.

“I am of the view that the applicants ought to be granted leave to apply for judicial review. The matters raised in the grounds supporting this application are neither frivolous nor vexatious,” said Mangatal in her written ruling.

“In my view, there are a number of arguable grounds relating to the procedural unfairness and irregularities which merit further consideration at a full hearing and which appear to have real prospects of success,” she added.

The enquiry, which started last September, is scheduled to continue in April.

The applicants — former finance minister Dr Omar Davies, ex-financial secretary Shirley Tyndall, former Finsac chairman Patrick Hylton, and the Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation Inc — are also seeking the ouster of commission members Charles Ross and Worrick Bogle.

The applicants have claimed perceived bias by Carey, in part, due to his reported debt with the collapsed Century National Bank — one of the entities at the centre of the probe.

In addition, the applicants contended that Carey was among the class of persons — delinquent borrowers and debtors — whom the commission is required to determine whether they were treated fairly.

Complaints were also made about the way in which the enquiry had been conducted. Allegations were also made that “certain comments made by the commissioners from time to time have suggested that they may have been prejudiced some of the issues” which are the subject of the enquiry.

Yesterday, Mangatal ordered that both the applicants and the respondents file, within the next six days, the relevant documents in preparation for the application for Judicial Review. The date for the first hearing of the review is March 9.

The application was not challenged as Lackston Robinson, the deputy solicitor general in the Attorney General’s Department, withdrew himself last week Friday, just hours before the start of the hearing.

Last night, Solicitor General Douglas Leys told the Observer that a decision will be made whether or not to seek the overturning of Mangatal’s decision after a study of the ruling.

In her ruling yesterday, Justice Mangatal said she believed that the reputation of the first, second and third applicants — who, except for Davies, served on the board of Finsac — could be “adversely affected by the determinations and procedures that may occur at the commission”.

Appearing for the applicants were Queen’s counsels Michael Hylton and Patrick Foster, Nicole Foster-Pusey and Dave Garcia.