17 Nov 2008

Fiji interim government accused of abuse of court process

3:28 pm on 17 November 2008

The president of the Fiji Law Society Dorsami Naidu says that a permanent stay on an injunction ruling against the interim Government reflects abuse of the court process by the interim regime.

The interim Government acquired an Appeal Court injunction to allow its National Council for Building a Better Fiji to resume work on the People's Charter, despite the High Court ruling it must stop on Friday.

Several hours after the High Court ruling, the interim-Attorney General, Aiyas Sayed Khaiyum, obtained an exparte order from an Appeal Court judge staying the injunction.

Mr Naidu says that this order should have been ruled on by the High Court judge and that interim-regime claims that he wasn't available are dubious.

"This is not the first one. They've done it since the coup, this has happened in two or three other matters: going ex-parte at odd hours and the only excuse they have is oh the judge in the initial stage wasn't available but they made no application."

Dorsami Naidu