Judge Perera accused of the serious crime of forgery but no CAA investigations. This article is from Seychelles Weekly in 2007.
A criminal complaint was lodged with the police this week,
against Supreme Court Judge A.R. Perera. The complaint was made by attorney,
Mrs Alexia Antao. In her complaint, Mrs Antao has asked the police to conduct a
criminal investigation of Judge Perera for forgery. According to the Penal Code
anyone found guilty of forgery is liable to imprisonment of up to 3 years if
convicted.
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| Alexia Amesbury then Antao and Judge Perera |
Mr Bonte: Your Lordship may I move in terms of my prayer.
Court (Judge Perera): There was an application for stay by
Mr Boulle.
Mr Bonte: Your lordship if he has filed (sic) a reply now we
take a date for ruling.
Court (Judge Perera): I will take an order on this. The case
is fixed for ruling on 20th October 2006 at 9.00 am.
However, that proceeding does not appear on the records of
that case. Instead, we have the following:
Mr Bonte: Your lordship may I move the motion be dismissed
for want of appearance.
Court (Judge Perera): There was an application for stay by
Mr Boulle.
Mr Bonte: Your lordship if he has failed to support the
motion today, I move for dismissal.
Court (Judge Perera): The motion for stay of execution of
judgment dated 22nd March 2006 was listed to be supported today. The parties
are absent and unrepresented. On the application of counsel for the respondent,
the motion is struck out.
This transcript was the one signed by Judge Perera as well
as the court reporter. That last document, according to Mrs Antao, is the
subject matter of the criminal investigation lodged by her with the police. Mrs
Antao cites the Seychelles Penal Code which defines forgery as “the making of a
false document with intent to defraud or to deceive”. The code goes on to
elaborate what the “making of a false document” entails. Section 333 states:
Any person makes a false document who:
a) makes a
document purporting to be what in fact
it is not;
b) alters a
document without authority in such a manner that if the alteration had been
authorised it would have altered the effect of the document;
c) introduces
into a document without authority whilst it is being drawn up matter which if
it had been authorised would have altered the effect of the document.
In an exclusive interview, we asked Mrs Antao why she has
brought the complaint against the judge when she had not been mentioned in the
transcript. “It is precisely because my appearance for Mr Boulle has been
removed from the proceedings that alerted me to something drastically wrong had
taken place.” She said. According to the cause list, the case was to be heard
at 10.30 am not 10.00 am. Below is a transcript of the entire proceeding as it
is recorded on the tape:
Mr Bonte: Your Lordship may I move in terms of my prayer.
Court (Judge Perera): Mr Boulle is not here.
Mr Bonte: It is alright, may I move in terms of my prayer.
We take a date for judgement.
Court (Judge Perera): There was an application for stay by
Mr Boulle.
Mrs Antao: Is it a
case for Mr Boulle?
Court (Judge Perera): Yes
Mrs Antao: Can I stand for him? I am ready, willing and able
but un-instructed.
Mr Bonte: Un-instructed. So sit down my friend. Let me go
about my business.
Court (Judge Perera): There was an application for stay
filed by Mr Boulle.
Mr Bonte: Yes.
Court (Judge Perera): With your reply.
Mr Bonte: Yes. Now we take a date for ruling.
Court: I will make an order on this. The case is fixed for
ruling on 20th October at 9.00 am.
Judge Perera, a Sri Lankan by birth, arrived in Seychelles
25 years ago. At the time, the judiciary served the whims and fancy of the one
party state dictatorship led by Mr Rene. Under the Constitution of the
one-party state introduced in 1979, no one enjoyed the protection of the
fundamental rights and freedoms as we do today under the third Republic
Constitution. The fundamental law was not even one-party state constitution but
the constitution of the SPPF.
During his long career in Seychelles, Perera served a stint
as Registrar of the Supreme Court. As a foreigner, Perera could only serve one
term of seven years as a Supreme Court judge since, according to the
Constitution of the Third Republic, he could not be reappointed. Perera somehow
served two stints as Supreme Court Judge while still a foreigner. However, when
his second term expired, Perera applied for and was granted citizenship, the
consequence of which is life tenure as a Supreme Court judge. This sleight of
hand has been condemned by Seychellois lawyers and politicians as an assault on
the spirit of the constitution.
This is not the first time that Judge Perera has courted
controversy in regard to court proceedings. In 1994 in a civil case brought by
Ms Kathleen Pillay against the Russian airline Aeroflot and the Seychelles
Government, Judge Perera ruled in favour of the Airline, which was represented
by France Bonte. According to sworn affidavits
by two lawyers present in the court,
Ms Pillay stood up and shouted at the judge “Once again you have
protected your post” and then stormed our of the court. According to these two
lawyers in their affidavits, the lawyer for Aeroflot, Mr Bonte, addressed the
court saying “My Lord this is a contempt of court”, to which Judge Perera
replied, “I will report this matter to the Chief Justice” and then said to the
stenographer, “Make a note of what has been said and I shall refer the matter
to the chief Justice to deal with”.
The next day, however, Ms Pillay was served with a notice
signed by Judge Perera, to appear before the Supreme Court two days later to
show cause why she should not be dealt with for contempt of court. However, when Ms Pillay applied for the
transcript of the proceedings to prepare her defence, court officials informed
her that Judge Perera refused to give back the file. Later, however, Ms Pillay
received an extract of the proceedings from Judge Perera which had words,
“Before I initiate proceedings for contempt” added. During that time, in a sworn affidavit, Ms
Pillay challenged the correctness of the record and said “… the extract
provided to her was to the best of her information knowledge and belief, a
false record of the proceedings”. Her allegation was further supported by the
sworn affidavits of the two lawyers who were present in court on that day.
Earlier this year one of the parties in the case when Mr
Boule was not present made a complaint against Judge Perera to the
Constitutional Appointments Authority (CAA) to have the judge investigated by a
tribunal for his conduct. When the complaint was given publicity by Nouvo Vizyon Magazine, Perera inexplicably decided
to offer an explanation to the magazine in a long letter justifying his action.
In this letter, Judge Perera admitted to “recording the proceedings in chambers
on the draft of the transcript of the earlier court proceedings.” Again
according to him “that was no dishonest or corrupt, nor a falsification of
record.”
Referring to her criminal complaint against Judge Perera the
attorney, Mrs Antao, said “By his action, in my view, Judge Perera has shown
that he has no integrity, is unfit to be a judge and I believe that in the eyes
of the Seychellois people he has lost credibility as a judge. How many have won
or lost their cases as a result of this kind of conduct. His conduct has
further degraded the embattled judiciary. The judge has clearly become an
embarrassment to our once reputable institution.”
This newspaper is of the view that if the authority
concerned (CAA) does not intervene now and rescue the judiciary from itself,
then they too would be responsible for the utter degradation of the judiciary
unless such a judiciary serves another agenda contrary to that provided for by
the Constitution.
Source: Seychelles Weekly 2007
NOTE: There was never
a tribunal for Judge Perera or any suspension by President James Michel.
According to research the Judge was called to answer a few questions secretly
behind closed doors by the then CAA Chairman France Bonte; this was a massive
conflict of interest as Bonte was also implicated in the case. The
investigations were buried even before it started.
