Disciplinary hearing cancelled after Justice Adam refuses to show up

The disciplinary hearing in Supreme Court Justice Adam Mohamed Abdulla has been cancelled after he refused to show up.

The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement released later, through the Supreme Court, Justice Adam said that he refuses to attend the JSC hearings as the investigation against him is invalid.

While Adam had appointed Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed to represent him, the commission did not accept him after noting a "conflict of interest." It said this after noting that Jameel has a disciplinary case at the Supreme Court, which JSC noted is a case to be presided by the court's "full bench."

However, Justice Adam claimed that JSC cannot make such a statement, and described the move as unconstitutional and as an attempt to infringe upon the country's judiciary.

Hence, he said that the decision to refuse Jameel as his attorney is a clear violation of his rights, guaranteed under Article 53 of the Constitution.

In addition, Justice Adam said that JSC's summon notice itself is invalid, claiming that the commission does not have the mandate to investigate the issues noted in the notice.

The last meeting in the disciplinary case was held on October 31, where Justice Adam was given additional time to appoint a lawyer. At the meeting, he noted the various obstacles to appointing a defence attorney, with claims that the JSC will reject them as well.

The meetings in Justice Adam’s case is being held openly as requested by the justice.