Judge rules in Saneem and Sayed-Khaiyum case that Magistrate lacked jurisdiction to rule on some matters

High Court Judge, Justice Thushara Rajasinghe has ruled in the appeal of former Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem and former Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum's case that Saneem's appeal against the first and third grounds of Magistrate Yogesh Prasad's earlier ruling is allowed on the basis that the Magistrate lacked jurisdiction to rule on the matters.

According to Saneem's appeal application against the Magistrate's earlier ruling, the first ground was the issue of investigation being carried out by Police and not by FICAC as defence challenges that the offences fall under the Electoral Act and therefore should have been investigated and prosecuted by FICAC.

The third ground based on the appeal is the issue of former Acting Director of Public Prosecution, John Rabuku sanctioning the charge when the Supreme Court decision said that he was not eligible for the position of DPP due to his conviction under the Legal Practitioners Act on non compliance to address a matter with the Chief Registrar in a timely manner.

Justice Rajasinghe says the conclusion reached under these two grounds is set aside.

He says the appeal against the second ground of the ruling is allowed, and the conclusion reached under that ground is also set aside.

The second in the appeal was that Section 290 of the Criminal Procedure Act for the court to ventilate pre-trial issues such as alleged human rights abuse of the accused in leading up to investigation, subsequent charging and refusal of bail without reasons and filing of the charges.

Justice Rajasinghe says the Magistrate is directed to refer the issue of the alleged breach of the rights under the Bill of Rights Chapter of the Constitution to the High Court pursuant to Section 44 (5) of the Constitution if the Magistrate is satisfied that the issues under the second ground of the ruling are not frivolous or vexatious.

He says the fourth ground for consolidating the charges is refused pursuant to Section 246 (7) of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is charged with one count of abuse of office while Mohammed Saneem is charged with one count of receiving a corrupt benefit.

It is alleged that Sayed-Khaiyum between June 30th and July 12th in 2022, while being the Acting Prime Minister, signed a Deed of Variation and Addendum between the Government and the then Supervisor of Elections, Saneem.

It is alleged the approval for the government to pay the taxes of Saneem was done without the proper approval of the Constitutional Offices Commission and the President.

It is alleged that between the 1st of June 2022 and the 31st of July 2022, while being employed as the Supervisor of Elections, Saneem without lawful authority and reasonable excuse, asked for, and obtained a benefit for himself, that is, the approval and payment of deductible tax relief of more than $50,000 on his back pay from a senior Government official.