The Civil High Court Judge, Justice Jude Nanayakkara this afternoon has ruled that Naidu is guilty for contempt of court.

Naidu scandalised and ridiculed the courts and the Judiciary in a Facebook post where he made comments in relation to a judgment delivered by the High Court in Suva.

The Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum filed the proceedings against Naidu for ridiculing the Judiciary in a Facebook post.

The Civil High Court orders are:

• The preliminary objection to the admissibility of the deposition in the affidavit of the A-G sworn on June 10, 2022, and filed on June 22, 2022, is partly allowed.
• The Judge concluded that the deposition in paragraph (12) of the A-G’s affidavit is a statement of opinion and therefore give no weight whatsoever.
• Except the deposition in paragraph (12), all other deposition in the A-G’s affidavit are admitted in to evidence including exhibit A and B.
• The Judge found that the particulars contained in the statement of charge filed pursuant to Order 52 Rule 2 (2) is proved beyond reasonable doubt by the evidence relied on by the A-G in his affidavit sworn on June 10, 2022.
• The Judge found Naidu guilty of contempt scandalising the court as charged in the statement of charge.
• The Judge convicted Naidu for contempt scandalising the court.

The matter will be called on January 5, 2023 for mitigation and sentence submissions.

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