STEP DOWN JUDGE GATES - YOU ARE NOT WORTHY

Great Editorial by the Fiji Times Editor. WFC again call for fafafiga Judge Gate’s resignation. The “shim” has made a mockery of the very thing he is suppose to be i.e an impartial apolitical Judge. The court has proved that he is NOT FIT to carry out his duties fairly without bias which means that he should be kicked on his ass and be given his marching orders.

Fiji Times - Thursday, June 28, 2007

TWO significant developments in the nation’s courts this week highlight risks to Fiji’s judicial system.

The first was the ruling by the Fiji Court of Appeal granting Ratu Inoke Takiveikata a retrial because of issues of bias (perceived or real) by last year’s trial judge now acting Chief Justice Anthony Gates.

The court found that Justice Gates, sitting as a High Court judge, told a married couple at a cocktail party before the end of the trial that he was going to put Ratu Inoke “away”. This finding played a big part in the decision to order a re-trial.

Justice Gates denied making the comments. The appeal judges made the opposite finding. They found that no less than the acting Chief Justice gave at least the appearance of partiality in a trial of a significant political figure.

Justice Gates needs to carefully consider whether, in light of this finding, he should continue in his role which is, after all, controversial enough.

He has to see that ceasing to act as Chief Justice is one of those options.

We imagine we have little choice but to trust to Justice Gates’s judgment.

Meanwhile, Court of Appeal president Justice Ward and at least two other Appeals Court judges are not seeking to extend their terms.

It is understood some of them do not wish to accept an appointment from a Judicial Services Commission now tainted by questions over how it acted after the December coup.

What this means is that at the end of this month there will be no Court of Appeal judges only High Court judges to act in their place.

Justices of Appeal are senior judges of high quality. Our judicial appointers have always accepted that to maintain this quality, at least some of these judges must come from countries other than our own.

Without this assurance of quality, questions arise, not least in the minds of investors who need to know that there is a justice system capable of handling the kind of complex commercial issues that many of them face.

There is also the ongoing suspension of Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki. This has continued for six months, awaiting a tribunal to be established to hear charges against him. No charges have been laid and no tribunal appointed.

The Government must tell the people whether it has been able to find judges of sufficient seniority and credibility to make up a tribunal.

The Fiji Law Society challenge to the validity of the post-coup Judicial Services Commission adds to the uncertainty eating away at confidence in the court system.

Which leaves us wondering what will it take to restore it. That must lie in the return to some form of constitutional legitimacy.

We can pretend that the law is being followed and our legal system is intact.

But with a Chief Justice in military-induced limbo, his replacement burdened with an adverse judgment and a disappearing Court of Appeal, the paper that has been glued over the cracks is becoming thin.

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