The Supreme Court this morning directed the Prime Minister’s lawyers to serve on the Chief Magistrate the application they filed, which is seeking to stay the National Court’s decision dismissing the review on Tuesday.
Lawyers representing Prime Minister Peter O’Neill filed an urgent application yesterday morning, to ask the Supreme Court to stay the dismissal of the National Court review, pending the appeal.
They went before Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia this morning after directions were issued yesterday for court documents to be served on the Solicitor General and the state, including the Chief Magistrate.
Chief Magistrate Nerrie Eliakim’s decision to issue the warrant against the Prime Minister on June 12, 2014, from the Waigani District court was the subject of the review in the National Court, which was dismissed on Tuesday.
The dismissal of the review paved way for the arrest warrant to come alive again and the Prime Minister is now appealing against the dismissal of that review.
His lawyer, Mal Varitimos, told the court the Chief Magistrate was not represented in the National Court case, but the Chief Justice was adamant serving of the documents must be made to her before the court can proceed to hear the application.
Whether she gets her lawyers to appear in court or not, the court said she must be served the documents when adjourning the hearing of the application to after lunch today.
The Waigani National Court on Tuesday dismissed the review filed by former Police Commissioner, Geoffery Vaki, challenging the legality of the arrest warrant that was issued by the District Court.
Presiding judge, Justice Collin Makail, in dismissing the review, said it was an abuse of the court process, adding criminal processes and procedures should not be stopped by civil court cases.
More from Loop PNG today on this case.