Inquiry hearing deferred

By HELEN TARAWA
THE Commission of Inquiry (COI) hearing into the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) loan deal was yesterday deferred to next month due to incomplete administrative arrangements.
COI chairman Sir Salamo Injia, pictured, told the media that the commission was unable to sit yesterday because only a portion of the administrative matters had been addressed.
The former chief justice said the commission was in the process of addressing a number of other matters, including statutory requirement in respect of the non-citizen component of the commission staff.
Sir Salamo said the commission was awaiting the Government’s decision on its request for an increase in the time frame from three months to six months, additional funds and technical experts.
“During the first mention of the matter on Sept 2, 2019 the matter was fixed for further mention today,” he said.
“It was announced that further administrative arrangement to secure resources required for the inquiry, including technical experts, are continuing.
“The road map for the inquiry and the procedures to be employed in the conduct of the inquiry would be settled.”
Sir Salamo said the commission and the counsel had met and issued a public notice informing the public of the inquiry and practice note that set out the practice and procedures of the commission.
“Pursuant to the public notice, members of the public who have any information that may assist the commission are encouraged to contact the commission.
“Pursuant to practice, the commission has set Thursday, Oct 17 for the opening public hearing during which the commission may among other things, consider and issue summons to witnesses,”
Sir Salamo said the opening public hearing was a tentative fixture because it was dependent on the requisite administrative arrangements being completed in time.
“For this reason, the Commission is encouraging those public authorities that had already been approached to facilitate those administrative arrangements to fast-track its requests in order that the commission sits as scheduled,” he said.