Before a panel of three judges, namely Nirmala Devat, Iqbal Maghooa and Carol Green Jokhoo, Mr Antoine Domingue, a Senior Counsel and one of Suren Dayal’s lawyers, have formally objected to the appearance of Me Désiré Basset as one of the representatives of the PM in this case.
It should be noted that on Monday 15 November, Mr Basset wrote to Justice Nirmala Devat, the Presiding Judge, to inform her that he has received the written opinion of the Bar Council telling him to decide whether he wants to continue representing Pravind Jugnauth or not.
Mr Basset said that he believes he is not in a situation of conflict of interests and thus, he will continue to represent the Prime Minister.
Thus, this morning, he was present in court along with the Prime Minister.
However, when the case was called, Me Antoine Domingue objected to the presence of Mr Basset on the basis that Désiré Basset was still a member of the Electoral Supervisory Commission when a witness of the “Private Prosecution”, namely Ashok Subron of Rezistans ek Alternativ, had made a complaint to the ESC about the Kistnen Papers. It should be highlighted that it is on the basis of these documents that Suren Dayal, a defeated candidate in the 2019 parliamentary elections, is accusing the PM of having falsely declared his election expenses.
Désiré Basset objected to the position of Me Domingue. According to him, the request is frivolous and tantamount to abuse of court procedure. For him, every citizen has the right to be defended by the lawyer of his choice and the lawyer of the opposite party cannot interfere.
The judges requested the presence of the Bar Council for oral arguments on the issue. The case was adjourned to Monday 22nd November 2021.
Pravind Jugnauth is asking the Supreme Court to quash the private prosecution filed against him by Suren Dayal in the District Court of Port Louis.
