By Natasha Ovoi
The Leader of the Opposition’s Supreme Court reference questioning the events of the May/June sitting of Parliament was dismissed by the Supreme Court yesterday.
The 5 men bench headed by Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, along with Justices Les Gavara Nanu, Panuel Mogish, Justice David Cannings and Derek Hartshorn yesterday upheld 5 of the 7 objections to competency filed by the second intervener, Attorney General Pila Niningi.
This dismisses the Opposition leader’s application in the supreme Court under section 18 of the constitution.
Opposition leader, Douglas Tomuriesa said, “We from the opposition respect the court decision our lawyers have argued our case and we have heard from the chief justice rulings that out of the five men bench four have rule against us and one was ruled in support of our application.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General, Pila Niningi said he was not surprised of what transpired in court yesterday.
“Thank you to the councils who represented me, they did a good job I have to congratulate them and commend them for the job well done, alternative on the other side they did a poor job, they have never agreed, they have failed in miserably so I knew that it will come our way and I am not surprise,” he said.
By majority, the orders delivered included;
- Amended notice of objection to competency filed on the 25th of July, 2024 was upheld
- The proceedings were entirely dismissed
- Subject to specific costs orders made in the course of the proceedings, the applicant shall pay the second intervener’s costs of the proceedings on a party-party basis, which shall if not agreed be taxed.
