Baki’s Sweep appeal denied

By DEMAS TIEN
THE Waigani National Court has refused to grant leave to Police Commissioner Gari Baki to review two Cabinet decisions regarding the establishment of the Investigation Task Force Sweep (ITFS) in 2011.
Justice Leka Nablu refused and dismissed  the application on the basis that there was a long delay in filing the case and that Baki had no sufficient interest in the case.
The court noted that the two decisions were made by the National Executive Council on Aug 2011 and July 2012 and had surpassed five years.
The court also noted that the judicial review proceeding was filed by Baki on May 19 this year.
Justice Nablu said under the national court rules, parties aggrieved by any administrative decision were required to file their case for judicial review within four months after the date of the decision.
He said in this case it took five years for Baki to file for a judicial review.
She said the four months for the two decisions had expired on Dec 2011 and June 2012 respectively.
The court was not persuaded by explanations from Baki, through his lawyer Stanley Poga, that he was busy with national events such as Pacific Games in 2015, the general election and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next year, and that there were two other commissioners of police that were in office prior to his appointment in May 2015.
The court found that Baki had no arguable case.
Former chairman of Investigation Task Force Sweep Sam Koim told reporters outside the court that the case filed by Baki was a “wild goose chase” because it sought to nullify all the hard work that the Sweep team had carried out besides the fact that more than 20 offenders that were in jail as a result of  Sweep’s work.