Zhou Wenje v Pioneer Power Engineering Company (SL) Ltd & Others (MISC APP 001/2025) [2025] SLHCFTCAD 3 (12 June 2025)

High Court of Sierra Leone, Commercial and Admiralty Division. Judgment of The Honourable Mr Justice Fisher J, 12 June 2025 (hearing 5 March 2025). By originating notice of motion dated 16 January 2025 the applicant sought judicial review and certiorari to quash private criminal proceedings brought against him by the respondent company in the Magistrates' Court; the second interested party was defendant to a similar private summons. The court considered section 64(3) and section 66 of the 1991 Constitution, under which all offences prosecuted in the name of the Republic are at the suit of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the Director of Public Prosecutions may take over or discontinue proceedings, and section 16 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1965 and section 18 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2024. It held that, to the extent they allow private criminal summonses without reference to the Attorney-General, those provisions are inconsistent with the Constitution, which is supreme under section 171(15); the Attorney-General can exercise his powers only if he knows of the proceedings. The court suggested that newly issued private summonses be brought to the Attorney-General's attention, by the Registry, practice direction or legislation, and said magistrates should be vigilant to stay such proceedings where justice requires. Certiorari was granted quashing both private prosecutions and the defendants were discharged, with costs under Order 57 of the High Court Rules 2007. The pages read for this report end here. The judgment continues in the PDF.