Suva High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar will deliver his ruling next week on the validity of the transfer of Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry’s tax evasion case to the High Court.

State and defense lawyers filed their submissions today.

Justice Goundar had raised concern on the issue last month when he highlighted he could not find any records on whether proper procedures were followed before the case was transferred to the High Court from the Magistrates Court.

Judge Goundar had said that there was no formal application and it would seem that the Magistrate acted on his own accord to transfer the matter without giving the counsels an opportunity to make submissions on the matter.

He said the section under the Criminal Procedure Decree dealing with transfer of cases does not give the Magistrate powers to transfer the case on his own accord.

Judge Goundar is expected to rule on the matter next Thursday.

Chaudhry faces 12 counts of alleged money laundering and tax evasion.


Story by: Ronal Deo