Proceedings filed by Yopo dismissed

By KARO JESSE
THE Waigani National Court has dismissed a judicial proceeding filed by suspended managing director and chief executive officer of the National Airports Cooperation Ltd (NAC) Richard Yopo.
Justice Ogaile Dingake yesterday ruled that the proceeding was incompetent because NAC was not a public body whose decisions could be challenged in a judicial review.
Yopo filed the judicial review proceeding to challenge the decision by the Minister of Civil Aviation Lekwa Gure and then-minister for finance Charles Abel to suspend former chairman of the NAC board Reuben Aila and appoint Jerry Agus the acting chairman.
The NAC board under Agus suspended Yopo.
Yopo filed the proceeding to review the minister’s decision that suspended Aila, submitting that the minister and the board of NAC, as shareholders, overstepped their powers with their action.
Justice Dingake upheld submissions made by acting managing director Ephraim Wasem, arguing that NAC was a company and therefore its decisions were of a private law nature and could not be judicially reviewed.
This therefore conceded that the decision by the trustee shareholders, Gure and Abel to suspend Aila and appoint Agus was legal and the board’s decision under Agus that suspended Yopo was also legal.