The High Court has refused an application by Justice David Ashton-Lewis to adjourn next week’s hearing of judicial review proceedings challenging his Commission of Inquiry report.
Justice Ashton-Lewis had applied for the adjournment saying he had a serious medical condition which would prevent him from attending court. The case is scheduled to begin on Friday, April 10 and continue through the weekend.
Justice Dane Tuiqereqere, who is hearing the case, ruled after yesterday’s hearing that Justice Ashton-Lewis had not presented evidence that sufficiently established that he was too ill to prepare or provide affidavit evidence.
The high-profile case involves applications by former Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption Commissioner Barbara Malimali, Fiji Law Society President William Wylie Clarke, former Law Society president Laurel Vaurasi, and former attorney-general Graham Leung.
They are challenging the validity of the Commission of Inquiry report, seeking court orders to declare its findings unlawful.
All the applicants opposed the adjournment application. Government lawyer Geraldine Naigulevu said the Attorney-General’s Office supported it.
Mr Clarke gave evidence that Justice Ashton-Lewis, while claiming to be ill, continued to give weekly radio interviews on a Queensland radio station.
His lawyer, Richard Naidu, played in court an extract of an interview given by Justice Ashton-Lewis in Australia yesterday, a few hours before the hearing of his adjournment application claiming illness.
The applicants’ lawyers argued Justice Ashton-Lewis had not acted with diligence, highlighting delays since he first applied to join the proceedings in December last year.
Justice Tuiqereqere cautioned Justice Ashton-Lewis’s lawyer, Hemendra Nagin, from describing his client as on his “deathbed”, saying that there was no evidence of this.
He found that, despite being given the opportunity to participate as an interested party, Justice Ashton-Lewis had not filed any substantive affidavit addressing the allegations against him, particularly claims of bias.
While acknowledging Justice Ashton-Lewis’s medical condition, Justice Tuiqereqere ruled that the potential contribution of his evidence was limited to questions of his alleged bias while the other grounds of judicial review could largely be decided on the COI report and the transcript of the COI proceedings.
He ruled that the case should proceed as scheduled on Friday, April 10.
