Musa suit against commission thrown out, will be filed again

A much anticipated Supreme Court ruling on an application for judicial review of the latest government appointed commission of inquiry has been postponed indefinitely. Justice Manuel Sosa late Tuesday threw out the case brought by People’s United Party leader Said Musa against commissioners Harry Lui and William Tillett on a technicality. Solicitor General Gian Ghandi successfully argued that the appointment of Lui and Tillett by the Prime Minister in March was an act of the State and therefore any suit should have been taken against the Attorney General, and not the commissioners. An attempt to amend the motion to include the A.G. was not allowed and defense attorneys Lisa Shoman and Fred Lumor, found themselves back at square one. But no sooner had the doors to the Registry opened this morning than Shoman and Lumor were there, a corrected application in hand, ready to start the process all over again. A date for hearing the new application has not yet been announced. The two-man commission of inquiry is looking into the handling of funds under the Economic Citizenship Programme administered by the P.U.P. government from 1989 to 1993. At its last sitting in Belmopan, Said Musa refused to testify as a witness before the commission saying the proceedings are being conducted in a way which is blatantly biased and politically motivated. In other Supreme Court news, a ruling in the Prime Minister’s libel case against former San Ignacio Mayor Marconi Matus and P.U.P. chairman Jorge Espat has been reserved for a date to be announced.