Civil Court

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has appealed the Civil Court’s ruling against the Commission’s decision to terminate border control system.

ACC’s lawyer revealed at the hearing held today at High Court that Civil Court’s ruling stated that the notification letter sent to Department of Immigration and Emigration by ACC on 24 January 2011 was against the regulations of ACC.

He said that despite this ruling, the notification letter was within the limits of the constitution, the Commission’s regulation, and sent according to the authority granted to ACC by the Anti-corruption Act. He argued that the Civil Court’s ruling obstructed ACC in fulfilling its responsibilities as required by the law.

He continued that ACC is believed to be a commission which investigates issues and submits them to Prosecutor General (PG) Office; however the constitution gives ACC the authority to do everything possible to encourage honesty and integrity, and discourage corruption in the government.

The lawyer said that the Civil Court, in its ruling, did not refer to any of the arguments made by ACC regarding the border control agreement. He noted that the border control work is currently ongoing, thus a speedy decision on this matter is necessary.

ACC requested High Court to issue an interim order to Immigration to cease all efforts to establish the border control system before the court decision on his matter is finalised.

High Court Judge Dr Azmiralda Zahir said that before a decision on the interim order can be made, Nexbiz who had requested for an intervention will be given a chance to present its argument at the next hearing.

ACC has requested the court to cancel Civil Court’s ruling that ACC cannot order to stop the border control work, and to order Immigration to stop the efforts as notified in the letter sent by ACC on 24 January 2011, and start the process with fresh bids.

ACC’s lawyer also pointed out that the state lawyer Solicitor General of Attorney General’s Office Ahmed Usham, who is also a member of Tender Evaluation Board, had a conflict of interest in the current case. Usham replied that he had no conflict of interest, and requested the court to inform their decision on the matter in writing.

The court decided that Usham cannot act as a lawyer for the case at hand.