A Second appeal to the Grand Court in the Cayman Islands to allow the tribunal to take evidence there should not go ahead if the only reason for the appeal was that it would prove convenient to a second tribunal, the counsel for the public interest said yesterday.
In his submission on the final day of the tribunal, Mr Edward
Comyn SC said the tribunal would be going outside its remit if it appealed on the basis that it was looking forward to another tribunal or tribunals.
It might seem "attractive", he said, but if the appeal was not
"connected with some further information or further matters properly within the remit of this tribunal then I would submit that it should not be pursued".
"If the appeal were for peripheral matters which were never going to effect anything then it should not proceed." He added that he did not believe that would be the case and that the final decision on the appeal should be taken by the tribunal team, who had done an
"excellent" job.
It is in the public interest that a report be published by the tribunal as soon as possible, he said. A further appeal would delay the publishing of the report until Christmas or perhaps even later and the tribunal should consider that such a delay would be unreasonable.