Tribunal of Inquiry in the conduct of CJ Twomey reconvenes |31 July 2018

The start of the hearing yesterday

The Tribunal of Inquiry  appointed under Article 134(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Seychelles in April 2018 to inquire into several complaints of alleged misconduct against Chief Justice Dr Mathilda Twomey, reconvened yesterday morning at National House.

This follows the preliminary direction hearings which took place on June 5 and 6 at the same venue.

The complaints were lodged by Judge Durai Karunakaran to the Constitutional Appointment Authority (CAA).

Several witnesses are expected to be heard during the two weeks that the tribunal will be sitting.

Yesterday morning at the start of the hearing senior advisor to the tribunal, Andrew Redding, pointed out that the CAA has received several complaints on CJ Twomey’s conduct  by Judge Karunakaran and  considered all of them but after deliberations decided to refer only four specific issues to be investigated by the Tribunal of Inquiry.

These include abuse of authority of office, destruction of evidence,  making public the report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the conduct of Judge Karunakaran and the fourth issue relates to the institution of the Karunakaran tribunal of inquiry.

The first witness to be questioned was Judge Karunakaran himself.

After the hearings are completed the tribunal will compile a report of its findings and recommendations which it will submit to the president.