Salamo Injia
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Sir Salamo Injia is a retired Judge and former Chief Justice of
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
. Injia was knighted in 2006 and appointed Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea The Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea has been the highest court of Papua New Guinea since 16 September 1975, replacing the pre-Independence Supreme Court (corresponding to the post-Independence National Court) and the overseas appellate tribunal ...
in 2008, succeeding Mari Kapi. In 2018, Sir Gibbs Salika replaced him as the Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea. In August 2019, Injia was appointed chair of a commission of inquiry into a controversial state loan of from the Swiss bank
UBS UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major financial centres as the ...
used by the PNG government to buy a stake in the resource company
Oil Search Oil Search was the largest oil and gas exploration and development company incorporated in Papua New Guinea, which operated all of the country's oilfields. In December 2021, it merged with the Australian company Santos. History Oil Search was ...
.


Controversies


Election of Peter O'Neill

On 9 November 2011, Sir Salamo Injia was suspended from the position of Chief Justice by the government after allegations that he had breached a contempt order and mismanaged court finances. At the time, the Supreme Court was deciding on the constitutionality of the election of
Peter O'Neill Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. He has been a Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pangia since 2002. He was a fo ...
as
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea The prime minister of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea () is Papua New Guinea's head of government, elected by the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, National Parliament and formally appointed by the Governor-General of Papua New ...
. In response, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of O'Neill supporters, Deputy Prime Minister
Belden Namah Belden Namah (born 30 December 1969) is a Papua New Guinean politician. Namah is a member of the National Parliament for the Papua New Guinea Party, and has represented Vanimo-Green River District since 2007. He served in the Cabinet from 200 ...
and Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat. The pair were briefly imprisoned. In December 2011, Sir Salamo Injia was one of five judges who presided over the Supreme Court decision that ruled that Prime Minister O'Neill did not follow due constitutional process when he ousted former Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare on 2 August 2011. The government made numerous attempts to remove Injia from the Supreme Court case, citing a conflict of interest.


Judicial Conduct Bill

On 22 March 2012 Prime Minister O'Neill's administration introduced a new law, the Judicial Conduct Bill, empowering the government to suspend judges by referring them to a tribunal. The bill was passed by parliament, 24 hours after it was introduced. Opposition commentators have criticised the new law as being designed to remove Injia from the Supreme Court. Sir Barry Holloway, the former speaker of parliament, commented that while many had welcomed the ascension of the O'Neill government because of O'Neill's promised clampdown on corruption, O'Neill's on-going battle with the judiciary had "''cost it a lot of the public goodwill it enjoyed when it first assumed power''". In May 2012, Injia and Justice Nicholas Kirriwom were arrested on charges of "sedition", having been part of a three-man bench who ruled that Somare is PNG's rightful leader. A police unit led by Deputy Prime Minister
Belden Namah Belden Namah (born 30 December 1969) is a Papua New Guinean politician. Namah is a member of the National Parliament for the Papua New Guinea Party, and has represented Vanimo-Green River District since 2007. He served in the Cabinet from 200 ...
stormed the court in an attempt to arrest Injia. This has caused alarm with the
Australian Bar Association The Australian Bar Association (ABA) is the peak body representing more than 6,000 barristers throughout Australia. The ABA was established in 1963 to serve, promote and represent its members, and advocate for fair and equal justice for all. ...
, which has called on the government of PNG to reaffirm the independence of its nation's judges. In August 2012, the charges against Injia were dropped, following a letter from Prime Minister O'Neill to the Police Commissioner, Tom Kulunga, which requested that the proceedings against each of the judges charged be discontinued. O'Neill, who had originally lodged the complaint against Injia, said that the decision was "in the best interest of the country and the people."


Justice Timothy Hinchliffe

In March 2012 Injia was arrested by the police, charged with obstructing a police investigation into his alleged intervention into the 2009 handling of the estate of the deceased judge, Justice Timothy Hinchliffe. Police alleged that Injia illegally redirected into court coffers () meant for Hinchliffe's adopted son, Timothy Sarri. The police chief defended the arrest, which was effected by armed officers, explaining that Injia had ignored repeated requests to attend an interview with the police about the execution of Hinchliffe's will. A week later, amid increasing criticism from political and judicial circles that the arrest of Injia was politically motivated, the National Court of Papua New Guinea issued a permanent stay on proceedings against Injia, calling the charges an abuse of process. The court also issued a restraining order stopping police from arresting Injia again. The National Court found that the payments managed by Injia in relation to Justice Hinchliffe's estate had been authorised by Timothy Sarri.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Injia, Salamo Chief justices of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean judges Papua New Guinean knights Knights Bachelor Living people Year of birth missing (living people)