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Court throws out OC appeal
By MICHELLE YIPRUKAMAN
THE Ombudsman Commission’s application
seeking an appeal of the National Court proceeding of a judicial review
in its referral of Angoram MP Arthur Somare was dismissed by the Supreme
Court.
A three-man bench comprising Justice Gregory Lay, Justice Les
Gavara-Nanu and Justice Sao Gabi dismissed the appeal on Tuesday on the
basis that proper procedures were not followed when filing the appeal.
The Ombudsman Commission (OC) filed an application seeking an appeal of
the National Court proceeding of a review in its referral of Mr Somare
to the Public Prosecutor.
Mr Somare’s lawyer, Kerenga Kua, then filed an objection of competency
in response to the OC application.
The commission, last Feb 28, referred Mr Somare to the Public Prosecutor
for alleged misconduct in office relating to failure to give annual
statements on time, misapplication of district support grants and
failure to acquit.
Mr Kua told the court his client relied on three grounds to object the
OC notice of motion which were delayed in filing an appeal outside of
the statutory time limit, failure to comply with Section 14 (3) (b) in
filing an appeal without leave of the Supreme Court and failure to
comply with Order 10 Rule 3 (c) which was the incorrect form.
The counsel for OC, Nemo Yalo, submitted that the ground of objection
was misconceived to which the OC filed the notice of motion within the
40-day time limit which was in compliance with Section 17 of the Supreme
Court Act and also the nature of the case did not require leave from the
Supreme Court to file an appeal.
In an unanimous decision, the objection of competence was upheld while
dismissing the OC’s application to appeal the National Court decision in
granting leave for a judicial review.
 
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