PRIME Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s lawyer has filed a strike-out application in the judicial review proceedings brought by former FICAC commissioner Barbara Malimali, who is challenging a Commission of Inquiry (COI) report.
The application was filed by lawyer Simione Valenitabua and called before Justice Dane Tuiqereqere.
Among the grounds for the application, Mr Valenitabua argues, is that Ms Malimali’s judicial review against the Prime Minister disclosed no reasonable cause of action and was barred by statutory immunity under Section 11 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1945.
He is expected to contend that Section 11 of the Act provides that “No evidence taken under the Act shall be admissible against any person in any civil or criminal proceeding whatsoever …”
The application further states Ms Malimali’s judicial review application constitute a civil proceeding within the meaning of that section, and that the statutory prohibition in Section 11 renders the applicant’s case fundamentally flawed and legally unsustainable.
Mr Valenitabua is seeking orders to have the Prime Minister removed as a party to the proceedings, for Ms Malimali’s pleadings to be struck out, and for her to pay costs.
Justice Tuiqereqere has issued timetabling directions, requiring Mr Valenitabua to file submissions by November 28 and for the applicant and other respondents to file their submissions by December 3.
In the substantive matter, Ms Malimali is challenging the validity of the Ashton-Lewis COI report, seeking orders to quash its findings and recommendations, along with other related declarations.
She is one of four individuals named in the report who are seeking leave to apply for judicial review in separate proceedings.
The strike-out application will be heard together with the leave to apply for judicial review on December 12.
