Judgment will be delivered on notice in Amadea appeal case

The Supreme Court will deliver its judgment on notice in the special leave to appeal application filed by Millemarin Investment Limited 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 Amadea.

Amadea was seized by US Authorities last May after the Civil High Court registered the US warrant for US authorities seeking to seize Amadea and sail it to the US. Amadea departed Lautoka Port on June 7.

Millemarin’s lawyer Feizal Haniff filed the petition for special leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

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 matter was called for hearing on the special leave to appeal application and was presided by Justice Anthony Gates, Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Brian Keith at Supreme Court in Veiuto Court Complex on Wednesday.

Mr Haniff said the legislation required the High Court and the Court of Appeal to review the Proceeds of Crime Act to establish whether the yacht was tainted or not.

Mr Haniff submitted that no prosecution had taken place in the US courts regarding the yacht and that the owner of an expensive yacht is waiting for the outcome of this proceeding. He said the Supreme Court would provide guidance to the lower courts on how to deal with such cases.

Justice Lokur asked Mr Haniff if he was seeking the Supreme Court to review the American court order and say it was wrong.

DPP’s lawyer Jayneeta Prasad submitted to the court there was no remedy the petitioner could hope for from this court that would give him possession of the yacht or bring the yacht back to Fiji.

She said the US warrant fell in the definition of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act and that there was an authority to proceed with the registration application which was given by the AttorneyGeneral to the DPP.

Ms Prasad said our courts were not concerned on the ownership of the yacht and it was for the District Court of Columbia to decide on.