Supreme Court grants Holness leave for judicial review of IC report
Prime Minister Andrew Holness registered a win in the Supreme Court on Friday when he was granted leave to apply for judicial review of the Integrity Commission’s (IC) report on his statutory declarations.
Lawyers for the prime minister had applied for leave to challenge processes engaged by the IC and its director of investigations, Kevon Stephenson, on several grounds.
The Supreme Court ruled that the prime minister may be allowed to use the Judicial Review Court to challenge the Integrity Commission report and processes engaged by Stephenson and his decision to send his report to Parliament for tabling.
The prime minister was also granted leave to challenge the IC’s referral of his statutory declarations to the Financial Investigation Division (FID).
The prime minister is seeking a declaration that the commission acted unfairly and unlawfully in its conduct of an investigation into his statutory declarations.
The court reportedly did not grant leave regarding the prime minister’s legal team’s challenge of an action taken by Integrity Commission Director of Information Complaints, Craig Beresford. It reportedly found that while Beresford might have been belated he eventually fulfilled his legal obligation.
Observer Online will have more on this developing story.