In the National Assembly |26 October 2022

R1.5m spent by government on the three international appeal judges to review EEEL/Vijay case

In the appeal case between Vijay Construction Company and the Eastern European Engineering Limited (EEEL), the Seychelles government has spent a little over R1.5 million on the three international appeal judges brought in to rehear the case, members of the National Assembly learnt yesterday.

This was through a detailed breakdown of the expenses provided by Vice-President Ahmed Afif as he answered a private notice question by the leader of the opposition Sebastien Pillay who wanted details of expenses made by the government in relation to the case and also if an investigation has been carried out to determine if the appeal was justifiable.

VP Afif reminded Assembly members that the decision to request for the services of the three international judges was a judicial decision in which the government had no say.

“This government never interferes in judicial matters and it is not the government who decides if any case will need to be heard by foreign or local judges, when cases are to be heard, the logistics associated with these decisions and how much all these will amount to.

“These decisions are taken by the judiciary as an independent branch of government. This government respects the procedures of the law, respects the independence of the judiciary and it will not in any way influence the decision of the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal. The government takes its responsibility to ensure that the judiciary has the means to carry out its work and this is through a proposed budget approved by the National Assembly,” VP Afif explained.

He went on to remind Assembly members that the role of the government is to ensure the operation of all its different branches through the national budget.

In view of the specific case at hand, VP Afif said it is important to put into context information which is in fact public information. At this point he went on to retrace the history of the case which dates back to 2014 until the arrival of the three foreign judges noting that it is not the first time that the services of foreign judges have been sought when the Court has felt it could not take certain cases.

VP Afif proceeded to point out that the appeal has cost the government R388,000 for the judges’ airfares, R751,000 for their fees and R407,000 for their accommodation.

VP Afif further highlighted that unfortunately there are numerous cases where the government have had to pay to ensure that democracy in our country continues to function and that this is the responsibility of any government.

With regard to the question if there is going to be any investigation to determine if the appeal was justifiable, VP Afif said he was shocked that Hon. Pillay expected the government to interfere in the Court of Appeal’s decision and judgement by its judges and to ask if it is reasonable or justifiable.

“We are a responsible government who works with respect for all the other arms of government and we respect their independence,” VP Afif reiterated.

Asked if an ordinary citizen would have had the same privilege like Vijay to call for international judges to listen to his or her appeal case if the need was felt, VP Afif pointed out that the appeal process is a legal one and it is the law that governs a country and all cases are addressed based on their merit.

But has the government not considered that such expenses would create a precedence and put unnecessary pressure on the government’s budget? To the question VP Afif stated that unfortunately any judicial matters come at a price and the role of the government is to ensure democracy continues to function. At this point he stated different instances where judicial decisions have resulted in high cost on government namely the case of paying compensation to victims of polluted water at La Misère as well as the case were government was obliged to pay compensation to former Minister Alain St Ange.

“These are Court decisions that the government has had to respect,” VP Afif stated, reiterating that the government is not in a position to question the judiciary’s decision.

Marie-Anne Lepathy