State’s appeal for November

AN appeal by the State of a judge’s decision to throw out an application by police which called on a St Helena couple to explain their wealth will be heard by a full panel of three appellate court judges in November.

Justice of Appeal Maria Wilson, sitting in chamber on Friday, signed off on a consent order between the couple’s attorneys and the State’s that there be a stay of Justice Carla Brown-Antoine’s order in August which revoked the preliminary “unexplained wealth order.”

Wilson also granted an order preventing the dissipation of property identified in the application made by the police in December, pending the hearing and determination of the expedited appeal.

The matter was the first to be brought to court after the legislation became law in April 2019.

In August, after considering an application by the couple’s attorneys to set aside her previous order, the judge upheld the submissions, on the basis that the evidence provided did not satisfy section 58(1) of the act, and discharged the order on August 21.

However, the State appealed the decision in the public’s interest because of the widespread impact the decision would have on proceedings filed under the act. The State contends that the judge did not correctly interpret the provisions of the legislation, in particular its retrospective application.

Representing the couple are attorneys Jagdeo Singh, Kiel Taklalsingh and Karina Singh.

Senior Counsel Fyard Hosein and Gilbert Peterson lead attorneys Ravi Rajkumar, Amirah Rahaman and Tiffany Ali for the State.