FINSAC enquiry court matter resumes today
Published:Wednesday | April 6, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Legal arguments were completed yesterday in the appeal brought by Queen's Counsel R.N.A. Henriques, who is challenging his removal as counsel for the FINSAC commission of enquiry.
Last September, the Judicial Review Court handed down a ruling which removed Henriques as the counsel for the enquiry because it stated he had connections with a company which had dealings with FINSAC.
Henriques filed an appeal contending that the court had no authority to remove him because he was not a party to the proceedings.
Queen's Counsel Allan Wood, who is representing Henriques, argued that Henriques' constitutional rights were breached because he was not given an opportunity to defend himself at the hearing in the Judicial Review Court.
appellants to be heard
The Court of Appeal said yesterday that it would give its decision in Henriques' appeal after it has heard from the other appellants.
Today, the Court of Appeal is expected to hear legal arguments from the other appellants, including retired Court of Appeal judge Boyd Carey.
The Judicial Review Court had removed Carey as chairman of the FINSAC commission of enquiry after it ruled that he was a FINSAC debtor.
Carey is contending that the court erred in its decision because he was not a FINSAC debtor. Carey said he had an overdraft with a bank that was taken over by FINSAC, but the overdraft was paid from another account he had with the bank.
Several claimants, including former Minister of Finance Dr Omar Davies, had brought the motion contending that Carey was a FINSAC debtor and was not qualified to sit on the commission. They claimed that because he was a FINSAC debtor, there would be an apparent bias if he continued to preside.
The commission was set up to probe the collapse of the financial sector in the 1990s and the resulting treatment of people whose debts were taken over by the entity.