Lawyer to pay costs

A LAWYER has been ordered to meet the costs of court proceedings instituted by his client against the Commission of Inquiry into the Department of Finance.
Kumoro Sino was ordered by Justice Les Gavera-Nanu to pay the cost of proceedings brought by one Umba Y Gabriel. Gabriel was one of four plaintiffs who went to court to challenge the powers and jurisdiction of the commission.
The others were former chief secretary Isaac Lupari, businessman Dadi Toka and Paul Paraka Lawyers.
Their challenge failed, and the other three are to settle costs on a client-solicitor basis.
In ordering them to pay costs, Justice Gavera-Nanu said the parties had misunderstood and misconceived the role of the CoI, whose job was about “investigating into the processes and procedures” of the payouts of public money paid to claimants.
In handing down his decision, the judge was critical of the conduct of Mr Sino.
He said Mr Sino, who represented Gabriel, must pay his clients’ total costs because he had inconvenienced the courts by delaying the hearings and when the hearing was on, he was not present.
The judge said the content of the affidavit by Mr Sino’s client was almost the same in content as his own affidavit. The exception was the signatures being different which raised questionable genuineness of the Gabriel’s affidavit.
Outside the courthouse, counsel assisting the CoI Stephen Kassman expressed satisfaction of the outcome of the court proceedings.