Former chief justice urges Govt to use local lawyers

A FORMER chief justice and attorney-general has urged the Government to use local lawyers to assist the Commission of Inquiry into the Union Bank of Switzerland K3 billion loan deal.
Sir Arnold Amet was responding to the delay in the certification of overseas solicitors and counsel for the inquiry.
He told The National that PNG lawyers should instead be given the opportunity.
“My view is that the PNG Law Society is right in opposing the admission of foreign lawyers to assist the commission,” he said.
“I support the law society’s contention that this is not a complex rocket science matter that our local lawyers could not sufficiently assist the commission with.
“It’s well overdue for our local senior law firms and lawyers to be exposed to these kind of commissions of inquiry to gain experience.
“The contents of the Terms of Reference issues are not complex in my opinion and local legal teams can sufficiently assist the commission of inquiry.
“The kind of money that’s being contracted out should have been invested in our local professionals.”
There are 10 applications for admission from three overseas counsel and seven solicitors from the firm of Minter Ellison Solicitors.
They were filed in the National Court by their PNG-based lawyers on July 2.
The National Court has declined five applications.
“Should the National Court rule similarly that these other five do not meet requirements and their applications are therefore denied, I would recommend to the Government through the Department of Justice and Attorney-General and Treasury to engage local legal teams to assist the commission,” Sir Arnold said.