Judge to decide pre-trial applications in Lord Dalgety case [1]
Friday, September 7, 2012 - 21:15. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
A decision on whether or not Lord Dalgety QC will proceed to trial or not, on a perjury indictment related to the MV Ashika Inquiry, will be determined on September 28, after arguments were made on legal matters during a hearing at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court on September 6-7.
Mr Justice Charles Cato presided over the pre-trial applications and today reserved his judgement for September 28.
Lord Dalgety, otherwise known as Ramsay Robertson Dalgety, is charged with perjury which related to a statement he made in January 2010 at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the MV Ashika ferry, which resulted in the loss 74 lives, on August 5, 2009.
He was represented in court by counsel Kahungunu Barron-Afeaki SC Barrister, while the Solicitor General 'Aminiasi Kefu acted for the Crown.
Legal submissions were made by counsel on their legal interpretation of Section 9 of the Royal Commissions Act regarding admissible evidence. Submissions were also made in regards to abuse of process.
Kahungunu submitted that the Crown had no prima facie case against his client in order for the case to proceed to trial and that it should be dismissed. He argued that the evidence was thin and questioned how the occurrence or involvement of Lord Dalgety in a company nine years before the sinking of the Ashika had led to cause its sinking.
He said the two statements made by Lord Dalgety (in the indictment) did not amount to a lie, that it was irrelevant and the charge should never have been brought. This was a campaign to discredit Lord Dalgety, he submitted.
Crown
The Solicitor General, 'Aminiasi Kefu put to the court that Lord Dalgety's statement to the Ashika inquiry was false and that he knew it was false when he made it.
He said Lord Dalgety's failure to be honest had prevented the inquiry from getting the full picture of the organisation, meaning the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia Ltd., and its operation from its chairman, Board of Directors and others. His failure to be honest had also prevented a further look into Ocean Pacific and prevented the inquiry from proceeding further to get an accurate assessment of the real situation, he said.
The Shipping Corporation of Polynesia Ltd was the operator of the Ashika ferry, in which Lord Dalgety was the former Company Secretary.
It is understood that written submissions on these legal matters were initially submitted to court before the arguments were made orally in open court.
Indictment
The perjury indictment against Lord Dalgety came from a reply he made when questioned by Manuel Varitimos the Counsel Assisting the Ashika inquiry,and was quoted:
"Mr Varitimos: Well do you know what the shareholding in Ocean Pacific Limited is?"
"Lord Dalgety: I - I can't remember that. It was - it was organised out - I wasn't involved in the organisation of that company."
This hearing comes after over a year since Tonga's Court of Appeal on April 15, 2011 ordered that the perjury indictment against Lord Dalgety be reinstated and referred back to the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa for trial.
Former Justice Robert Shuster had previously quashed the indictment on grounds that it was not dated or signed on November 1, 2010, at the Supreme Court.