The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of Guinea-Bissau has issued an arrest warrant against the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Paulo Sanhá, to be heard as part of a whistleblowing case, a source told Lusa.
The arrest warrant comes after two requests made by Attorney General, Fernando Gomes, to the Superior Council of the Judiciary requesting the “appearance or choice of venue for making statements before the Public Prosecutor’s Office before the plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice” of Paulo Sanhá for “committing public crimes.”
The Prosecutor General (PGR) wants to hear the president of the Supreme Court of Justice based on a complaint, “which is registered dated 13 April 2018,” made by “Bubacar Bari against judge Paulo Sanhá,” for alleged “denial of justice, prevarication, abuse of powers and harmful administration, that is, embezzlement of large sums for his own benefit, as president of the Supreme Court of Justice.”
Fernando Gomes had already asked to hear Paulo Sanhá on the 21st, and rescheduled the hearing for Wednesday.
Following the first request for an appearance, the Supreme Court of Justice pointed out that “the conduct of an enquiry into a crime against a magistrate is the responsibility of a magistrate of equal or higher rank than the magistrate in question, that is, the enquiry is conducted by a counsellor judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the same rank as the magistrate in question.
In response, the attorney general said that “nowhere does it appear, in relation to the crimes alleged against the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, that the person who should hear him in the proceedings should be a counsellor judge, unless it is solely and exclusively the PGR or deputy PGR or assistant attorney general” and rescheduled the request to appear today.
The lawyer for the chief justice, Marcelino Ntupé, told Lusa, “we know that the arrest warrant for judge, Paulo Sanhá, has been issued and if he does not appear by 2pm (same time in Lisbon), he will be arrested, which would be a judicial aberration”.
The lawyer noted that Paulo Sanhá, “does not refuse to answer” in the case file, he is only waiting for the Public Prosecutor’s Office to “clarify a number of issues” about the formalities of his summons.
“Without the presuppositions being met, an arrest would be an abuse and an attempt to humiliate our constituent”.
Ntupé said he hoped that, “common sense and the law will be observed.
