Court rejects Somare’s appeal

By JACOB POK
THE Waigani Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a bid by Angoram MP Arthur Somare to stop a leadership tribunal from hearing misconduct allegations against him.
Justice Bernard Sakora found that the application to stay the tribunal was an abuse of court process and without merit.
He ordered the leadership tribunal to reconvene.
Somare first made an unsuccessful attempt last year to stop the tribunal in the national court. His appeal was thrown out then and he further appealed to the higher court to review former’s decision.
His lawyer Goiye Gileng filed an application for stay on the basis that documents in relation to his client’s referral were signed by state prosecutor Kathwa Umpake and not the then acting public prosecutor Camillus Sambua.
He asked whether the tribunal had the jurisdiction to deal with the referral signed by a state prosecutor when the Constitution required the public prosecutor to sign the referral.
Gileng argued that the National Court judge had erred in his decision when dismissing the appeal and asked the Supreme Court to review this decision.
State lawyer Sam Koim argued that the issue of signature on documents or the referral did not alter or affect the contents of the referral.
He argued that there was no arguable case in the appeal and should be dismissed.
He said the tribunal had been unnecessarily dragged on.
Yesterday, Sakora, in a lengthy ruling, found that Somare’s appeal was unnecessary and without any arguable grounds.
He explained that the state prosecutor had the right to sign documents on behalf of the public prosecutor like they do when prosecuting any other criminal cases in courts.
“Duties and functions of state prosecutors prosecuting indictable offences also apply to misconduct cases.
“Umpake’s action was not unconstitutional … he carried out his legitimate duty as a state prosecutor on behalf of his legitimate office,” Sakora said. 
He said such appeal should be made when there was instances of a life and death situation and not loss of office.
“Loss of office is not the same as loss of life, or serving years in jail.”