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The Commission of Inquiry report into the country’s magistracy gathered by Justice John Connors has now been made public.
The inquiry, which began in September last year, was commissioned by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to investigate corrupt practices within the judicial system.
In a press conference this afternoon, interim Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum thanked Justice Connors for the tremendous effort in compiling the report, despite numerous threats made against him.
According to Sayed-Khaiyum, the threats made against Justice Connors were blatant threats but did not affect the work of the commission at all.
“Those of you who think that Justice Connors will be intimidated by such threats should think again because the report is with us now,” he said.
“These were just threats sent by mail during the injury but that did not deter Justice Connors at all.”
Sayed-Khaiyum said that these threats were not really an issue because “the media will always find ways to sensationalise such issues”.
The report highlights amongst other things; the level of competence of magistrates particularly with respect to civil suits, the delay in the disposal of proceedings, the delay in the delivery of judgments and rulings and the bias of magistrates.
It also makes several suggestions on addressing the backlog of cases as well as administrative issues like limiting the term of a resident magistrate in a particular district for three years.
