Supreme Court rejects Marat's bid

Challenge Rejected
The Supreme Court in Waigani has dismissed an attempt by the government to stop the Special Reference, challenging the controversial formation of the O'Neil-Namah regime in August this year.

Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia handed down the unanimous ruling this afternoon, coupled with a warning that there should not be threats to the Referrer, the East Sepik Provincial Government, to how the case is being conducted in court.

The move to strike out the Special Reference was made this morning by the first intervenor Attorney General Doctor Allan Marat, and had the support of the Parliament Speaker, the Prime Minister and his Deputy, as parties.



Those parties had argued that because only twelve out of the full fifteen member Provincial Cabinet attended the August meeting, the Reference did not have the full endorsement of the Executive Council.


Last week, single Supreme Court judge David Cannings had found that 12 of the 15 member of the Provincial Executive Council were present when the decision to file the reference was made.

But that fact has been disputed by these four parties, that there was no quorum to pass the resolution.

The application by the Attorney General was opposed by the Referrer the East Sepik Provincial.

Lawyers for the Provincial Government argued that the Reference is already up for hearing, and that it is already late to bring up the application to have the matter struck out.

In its unanimous ruling, the High Court covered three issues relating to the application, first of which was the issue of the timing of the Government's applicaiton.

On this issue, the court ruled that the court cannot place limit on its jurisdiction.

Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia says, the application covers issues which form an important part of the Reference hearing, and so it must be considered by the court.

The court then went on to combine the two other issues, and ruled that there was quorum, which enable the provincial executive to pass its resolution to file the Special Reference.

The court found that the August meeting of the Provincial Executive Council, had met the requirement of law on the issue of quorum, saying the attempt by the intervenors must therefore fail.

While the ruling now means the Reference continues to be heard, the Supreme Court has also warned of continued threats by the Government to the Provincial Government pursuing the matter.

The Chief Justice says, Parliament and the National Executive Council, has had their time with the issue, and it is now time for the court to deliberate on the matter. Sir Salamo says, the withdrawal or continuation of the Reference is subjudice, only for the court to decide.

Sir Salamo's statement follows evidence of a letter by Inter-Government Minister Mark Maipakai to East Sepik Governor Peter Wararu-Waranaka, stating that the Government's move to withdraw powers of the Provincial Government has now been withdrawn.

While hearing continues tomorrow, the Government intervenors will be asking for the hearing to be put on halt, until medical records of Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare is made available to the court, following its earlier directions and orders.

NBC News

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