Justice Mira Dean-Armorer on Friday rejected an attempt by UDeCOTT to stop the Uff Commission of Inquiry from submitting its final report to President George Maxwell Richards.
The report was due on February 28, but was held back until the court ruled on the matter.
The judge said in her view there is no reason why the commission should not deliver its report. She rejected several grounds on which UDeCOTT had applied for the proceedings to be declared illegal.
“There is no reason why they should not proceed to complete and to submit the report of the commission of inquiry to His Excellency,” the judge said.
The judge rejected the argument that chairman of the inquiry, Professor John Uff showed apparent bias and she also threw out a claim that former commissioner Israel Khan SC had “tainted” the proceedings shortly before he resigned;
She also disagreed that the chairman’s treatment of the evidence of Carl Khan, the ex-husband of Hart’s wife Sherrine, was demonstrative of bias.
One of UDeCOTT's lawyers, Devesh Maharaj, asked the judge for a stay of the proceedings to stop the commissioners from submitting a final report to the President since it is “most likely” that his client would appeal.
The judge refused. “I don’t see that in the circumstances I have the power to prevent the report from going forward," she stated.
The judge also order odered UDeCOTT to pay 7/8 of the costs to the Uff Commission,
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