A-G’s office to represent COI, High Court rules

The Office of the Attorney-General will represent the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) in the civil proceeding brought on by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). 

This was ruled by High Court Judge, Justice Dane Tuiqereqere yesterday after hearing all parties on who has the jurisdiction to represent the COI as a respondent in the case. 

In this matter, the JSC had sought the removal of the COI Report which implicated some members of the JSC.

Justice Tuiqereqere ruled in favour of the Solicitor-General, Ropate Green Lomavatu’s submission that the COI Report was already with the Office of the President, which by law, had the jurisdiction to action the recommendations outlined. 

He also agreed that Supreme Court Judge, Justice David Ashton Lewis had limited powers over the report because although he was the Commissioner, he didn’t have any powers or jurisdiction to make further actions. 

This brought the Out of Court Settlement back on the table, however the court is yet to rule on whether the terms of settlement will be made public or not. 

While JSC lawyer, Isireli Fa and Justice Lewis’s lawyer, Hemendra Nagin has no objection to publicising the Terms, Mr Lomavatu has until next Tuesday to get instructions from his clients, the President and the acting Attorney-General on whether they want the terms of settlement confidential or publicised. 

The court will hear the terms of settlement and the discontinuation application on January 22.