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The Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) has welcomed the decision by the Court of Appeals in Port of Spain, Trinidad, to quash the conviction and sentence imposed last year on former Indian-origin Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.

The Court has ordered a new trial before a different magistrate to prevent a repeat of the prejudicial trial that led to Panday's conviction.

After he was found guilty of not declaring a London bank account to the integrity commission last year, Panday was sentenced to two years in jail and several fines were imposed on him.

The Court of Appeals ruled that there will be a retrial of the integrity matter. The appeal of the case on behalf of Panday was spearheaded by Ramesh Maharaj, Queens Council and former Attorney General in the Panday administration.

When Panday was arrested in 2005, GOPIO International had protested, describing it as "uncivil and demeaning".

In a statement, GOPIO International said "the people of Trinidad and Tobago are better served when justice prevails, and the independence of the judiciary and the process of constitutional law are preserved".

Trinidad and Tobago, a former British colony, is an independent island nation located just off the northern coast of South America, with a population of slightly over 1,300,000 of which 45 per cent are people of Indian origin whose ancestors were brought there as indentured sugar plantation labourers during the nineteenth century.