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THE ARC OF JUSTICE HAS NOT BENT TOWARDS Fiji Times general manager and publisher: Fiji Appeal Court declines to grant Hank Arts leave to travel to New Zealand to give his step-daughter away at the altar 

17/2/2017

8 Comments

 
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Court of Appeal: Arts' security undertaking offers no comfort

FIJI Times general manager and publisher Hank Arts will not be able to give his daughter away at the altar tomorrow after the Court of Appeal dismissed his application for leave to appeal the High Court's decision in refusing an application for a variation of bail conditions.

Arts had applied for variation of bail conditions in the Suva Magistrates Court on August 31 last year to allow him to travel to New Zealand for a medical review between October 20-30 last year, and between February 15 and March 15 this year to attend his step-daughter's wedding.

That was refused.

He further applied to the High Court last October for the same two purposes, which was also refused.

Arts then appealed to the Court of Appeal after his dissatisfaction with that decision.

In his Notice of Appeal filed on February 9, he appealed on the grounds that:

-          The learned judge wrongly put the burden on Arts to prove that he would return to Fiji instead of requiring the State to establish that he would not return;
-          The learned judge wrongly found the security offered by Arts to ensure his return to Fiji was insufficient;
-          The learned judge failed to give any consideration that Arts had proposed two sureties who were prepared to stay in Fiji during his absence overseas, and abide by any conditions that the court would deem fit to impose to ensure his return to Fiji;
-          The learned judge misinterpreted Dr Ivan Connell's (Arts' doctor) opinion by holding that Arts' medical review was not imperative and essential; and
-          Arts reserved the right to raise further grounds of appeal at the hearing of this application.

In their ruling today, the three-member bench led by Justice William Calanchini, observed that neither reason for seeking a bail variation to enable Arts' travel to New Zealand could be described as "necessary or pressing".

Justice Calanchini said there was no material before either the High Court or the Court of Appeal to indicate the purposes of the medical review could not be performed by appropriate medical practitioners in Fiji once a copy of Arts' file or a report had been provided by Dr Connell on Arts' authorisation.

"As the learned High Court judge has concluded, the appellant's personal circumstances are such that the risk of not returning to Fiji and hence the object of the bail condition being frustrated is considerable and cannot be outweighed by the security undertakings to which reference has been made in the appellant's submission," Justice Calanchini said.

Arts, 68, and has been the general manager and publisher for Fiji Times for the past five years, owns two leases over iTaukei land at Vuda and Lami.

The Vuda property is valued at $2million and $728,000 for the Lami property.

The court noted that Arts did not own freehold land and that the two leasehold properties appeared to be his only assets.

"It does appear that under the provisions of the iTaukei Land Act Cap 133 and the Transfer of Land Act Cap 131, there are issues as to the effectiveness of those two properties being offered as security undertaking."
The court noted Arts was a New Zealand citizen and his right to remain there indefinitely could not be ignored.
 
The court also noted his family ties there and that his wife and almost all his family were presently in NZ for the wedding.

"It is not difficult to conclude that the risk of not returning to Fiji and surrendering himself into custody and appearing in court when next called to do so outweighs the desire on the part of the appellant to attend to his step-daughter's wedding.

"Furthermore, neither the sureties nor the security undertakings in this case provide the comfort that is necessary to vary the bail conditions and allow the appellant to travel to New Zealand."

Justice Calanchini said Arts had not demonstrated any error in the exercise of the learned judge's discretion and there was no material before the Court of Appeal that would require the Court to disturb the decision of the court below.

The trial proper will begin next month. Source: The Fiji Times, 17 February 2017

In their ruling, the three-member bench led by Justice William Calanchini, observed that neither reason [health review and daughter's wedding] for seeking a bail variation to enable Arts' travel to New Zealand could be described as "necessary or pressing"; The court also noted Arts' family ties there and that his wife and almost all his family were presently in NZ for the wedding. "It is not difficult to conclude that the risk of not returning to Fiji and surrendering himself into custody and appearing in court when next called to do so outweighs the desire on the part of the appellant to attend to his step-daughter's wedding." -
Justice William Calanchini, who came to Fiji to prosecute the November 2000 mutineers, and has not gone BACK to AUSTRALIA; he is now President of the Fiji Court of Appeal after his predecessor Justice Gordon Ward was booted out of Fiji following the 2006 coup

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They are all hiding behind this Godfather of Coups IMMUNITY, who was boasting about his own WEDDING in the book RABUKA OF FIJI:

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Fijileaks: We have stressed many times before, and repeat, that this COUPIST should renounce his IMMUNITY and face the ARC OF JUSTICE instead of leading SODELPA in the election. It is wrong to blame Aiyaz Khaiyum and Frank Bainimarama. The man who should be held to account for destroying the once proud Fijian judiciary is
SITIVENI LIGAMAMADA RABUKA:

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COMING SOON: Why this coupist and criminal RABUKA should be in PRISON and not in PARLIAMENT: "In my opinion the Prime Minister's (Rabuka) action as regard the events leading up to the execution of the Deed (the Stephens Affair) were not only improper but prima facie illegal"- Justice Sir Ronald Kermode, Commission of Inquiry into the Deed of Settlement dated 19.09.92  between Anthony Frederick Stephens and the Attorney-General of Fiji

http://www.fijileaks.com/home/hanking-for-arts-scalp-high-court-rejects-fiji-times-publisher-hank-arts-bail-application-for-travel-to-new-zealand-for-wedding-and-medical-check-up-and-yet-fbc-ceo-and-announcer-remain-free-for-racial-jibes

8 Comments
Arre Bappa
17/2/2017 11:09:18 am

Justice in Fiji since the Bainimarama Takeover does only one kind of bending : it bends over to serve his regime. If you have any doubt about this just ask the Chief Justice Anthony Gates who is there courtesy of the Bainimarama takeover. It's sayonara for these Justices if they do not do what their political masters want them to do.
That's justice post coup Fiji style.

Reply
Gulong
17/2/2017 05:20:28 pm

The charges against the Fiji Times are not capital offences punishable by a jail sentence so there is no need to restrict bail. Besides, it is the Newspaper that is the real defendant with the publisher receiving the charge in a nominal capacity. If he should not appear in Court to face the charge for any reason it will not affect the case. The editor or board chair or his deputy can still appear on behalf of the paper. Another unjust and poorly framed law that needs to be repealed

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Fiji First Party
17/2/2017 09:28:14 pm

Absolutely !

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WELL SAID
17/2/2017 11:48:23 pm

Couldn't have put any better than @ Arre Bappa and "Gulong" apart from saying that we now have Kangaroo Courts in Fiji - first, the Bala saga, then the High Court saying that Saneem was correct when he deregistered the NFP because in his view the CPA firm which audited the accounts didn't hold a practising certificate from the Fiji Institute of Accountants, varying bail condictions for the chotr MPC to travel overseas,.....this list is of course non exhaustive.

Its patently clear that the Courts are colluding with the government on this one because of government's profound hatred towards the Fiji Times honest reporting.

But what makes worse is this - this guy is a NZ citizen - so are the NZ authorities including NZ's Ambassador to Fiji so blind to such glaring injustice being perpetuated on its citizen that they can't voice their concerns like we ordinary citizens of Fiji are doing?

Each day we see this chor Government encroaching on basic human rights of individuals and the political parties by either changing laws using the Decree Model and/or controlling the Judiciary.

RIP justice!!

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Arre Bappa
18/2/2017 12:03:41 am

Unjust and poorly framed law is a small part of the problem. The bigger part is the part played by the post coup law enforcers under the command of the enforcer-in-chief Khaiyum.
A law, any law is a matter of interpretation. The law is currently being interpreted to favour the mob in power. That's been the pattern of law interpretation since the unlawful takeover of 2006 of which Khaiyum, the attorney general was a key part. The court rulings come as no surprise for people who know the political context and connection.

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May14Walu7
18/2/2017 01:16:30 am

Scrap the immunity clause that allows coup perpetrators to roam free and moonlight as modern day politicians. These thugs from Rabuka and his cronies to Bainimarama and his military thugs should be prosecuted under the law at the time they forcefully took over the government of the day. Until they're prosecuted there will always be someone else who believe they can also get away with taking over legitimate govts and changing the laws to suit their cowardly act.

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NONSENSE
18/2/2017 10:22:56 pm

It appears @Arre Bappa has taken leave of his IQ when asserting that "any law is a matter of interpretation" and laws are currently being interpreted in the favour of the mob because that's the why ASK wants them to be so. If that were so then all judges would be false to their judicial oath.

If a law is clear -eg, "the Director of Immigration shall grant the applicant a permit if the applicant is 18 years old at the date of the application, he has no criminal convictions for any offence which carries a term of 12 months jail term, and he is of good health"...

and if any applicant satisfies all the 3 statutory criteria (age, character and health), then the Director has no legal basis for declining the applicant permit because the Director has no residual discretion. The Parliamentary command is very clear - "shall grant". The Director cannot subvert this command simply because he thinks that the doctor who gave the applicant a clean bill of health, although duly registered to practice medicine in Fiji, does not hold a practising certificate. That's none of his business in terms of public law. Any deficiencies in the law is a matter of law reform, not by statutory interpretation or nifty judicial footwork.

This is exactly the situation in the recent HC case, holding Suneen was right when he deregsitered NFP because according to Suneen, its accounts were certified by an Australian CPA who didn't have a practising certifciate. Even ASK's Decree under which Suneen acted did not explicitly require the auditor to hold a COP; all it said the auditor be a member of the FIA.

True, in some cases there will be need for statutory interpretation in which case a judge must be guided by the Interpretation Act 1987. In the Suneen case, the judge even did not bother to refer to this Legislation. He simply decided on his whim (and we all know why).

Judges don't have to act according to the command of ASK or his mob. They should act without fear and without favour because thats the core of their judcial oath. But in Fii they are simply interpreting laws in the favour of ASK for one reason alone - that's in their vested interest if they don't want their jobs to be in jeopardy. This is what Gates CJ has turned Fiji's judiciary into - judicial thuggery and judicial intellectual dishonesty!!!

Say Arre Bappa to that.


Reply
Bahuki
22/2/2017 09:42:29 am

The Arc of Justice is always bent to serve the regime and its own interests such as in the case of some accident involving Praveen Bala who got away with it.

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