Justice Adam Mohamed given last chance to hire lawyer in JSC inquiry

Supreme Court Justice Adam Mohamed has been given his last chance to hire legal representation in the ongoing Judicial Service Commission (JSC) inquiry into his alleged ethical misconduct.

The JSC committee conducting the inquiry is charged over by Masthoor Husni, the JSC Vice President. Other members of the committee are; Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath, Thulhaadhoo MP Hisaan Hussain, Abdul Maaniu Hussain, and Civil Service Commission (CSC) President Dr. Ali Shameem.

Justice Adam Mohamed had attended the open inquiry session last Wednesday with two lawyers; former Vice President Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed and former Chancellor of Judicial Academy Ahmed Majid. However, the committee refused to allow representative by Dr. Jameel – citing that he was an appellant in an ongoing legal dispute at the Supreme Court which Justice Adam Mohamed is overseeing.

Wednesday’s session was adjourned after scheduling a second session for 12:30 pm this Thursday. Justice Adam Mohamed had attended the session, which began after a 30-minute break at 1 pm, alone, without any legal representation.

He said that he was not privy to why his second lawyer, Ahmed Majid, had failed to attend the session.

The committee asked Justice Adam Mohamed whether he wished to proceed with legal representation, and if so, why he had attended the session without any legal representation.

Justice Adam Mohamed requested for additional time to clarify the issue, and make necessary arrangements.

He said that it was difficult to hire legal representation for such inquiries, because the issue resulting from his decision to hire Dr. Jameel had been submitted to the Bar Council.

He also said that he found no plausible reason why he shouldn’t be able to hire Dr. Jameel as a lawyer, because he had bowed out from all ongoing legal disputes which involved Dr. Jameel at the Supreme Court.

However, the committee announced that it will not reconsider its decision to disallow Justice Adam Mohamed from hiring Dr. Jameel as a lawyer, and asked him to hire new legal representation.

The committee has scheduled the next inquiry session for 10:30 am on Monday, November 4, and has instructed Justice Adam Mohamed to attend the session with legal representation.