Amadea hearing fixed for April 12
The Supreme Court of Fiji has fixed a hearing date for a petition filed by Millemarin Investment Limited (MIL) for leave to appeal the decisions of the Civil High Court and the Fiji Court of Appeal involving superyacht Amadea.
Millemarin Investment Limited has filed a petition at the Supreme Court of Fiji against the Director of Public Prosecutions and Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov in relation to Superyacht, Amadea.
Millemarin’s lawyer Feizal Haniff filed the petition which was called before the Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo on Friday.
The Petition filed is for special leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In the notice of appeal, it was stated that the Petition arose farreaching questions of law, of great general or public importance, and was of substantial general interest to the administration of justice.
The petitioner submitted in its notice that it had suffered substantial and grave injustice and the issues raised presented far-reaching questions of law to be determined in respect of provisions of the mutual assistance in Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (MACMA) in parallel with the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The petition was filed with 11 grounds among which are:
The Court of Appeal erred in law in upholding the decision of the Civil High Court delivered on May 3, 2022, that registered a US warrant to seize Amadea subject to forfeiture issued by the US District Court of Columbia. Section 31 (2) of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1997 only permits an application to restrain persons from dealing with property to be made, not seizure in rem.
The Court of Appeal erred in law in upholding that the warrant to seize property subject to forfeiture issued by the US District Court of Columbia was a foreign restraining order when the order was for the seizure of superyacht Amadea with International Maritime Organisation number 1012531. Restraint and seizure are vitally different.
MIL sought for the Supreme Court of Fiji to grant special leave to appeal and to vacate and set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated May 27, 2022. In Court, Acting Chief Justice has ordered Mr Haniff to file and serve by March 24.
The respondent (Director of Public Prosecutions) is ordered to file and serve submissions by April 7. The matter will be called for hearing on April 12.