Gamato election case adjourned

WAIGANI National Court judge Justice Hitelai Polume-Kiele has again adjourned the case against Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato to next month for submissions on his penalty because he had failed to comply with a court direction.
The court heard that Gamato had not complied with filing affidavits regarding his penalty as directed by the court.
The court noted that Gamato had not fully complied with the directions so it adjourned the matter again for those submissions.
Gamato’s lawyer Alice Kimbu, from Kimbu and Associates, told the court yesterday that, she and her client had filed an application to have the proceedings dismissed.
Justice Polume-Kiele, however, told Kimbu that the matter was scheduled for submissions on the penalty yesterday.
Kimbu submitted that they had filed an application and short-served it on the Registrar of National and Supreme Courts Ian Augerea’s lawyer but said that the lawyer would not be able to respond to the application filed by Kimbu if it was to be moved yesterday.
Justice Polume-Kiele adjourned the matter to Dec 19 and ordered that costs of the adjournment be paid by Kimbu.
Gamato, on Nov 15, filed an application to the Supreme Court to have the orders of the National Court stayed. Judge Oagile Bethuel Dingake, in a ruling handed down last week, refused the application because he said the application was without merit and was an abuse of the court’s process.