By William Madouk and Philip Buda
The ongoing dispute between businessman Ayii Duang Ayii and the National Assembly has escalated, with Ayii threatening legal action against the parliament over the recent summon.
In a dramatic turn of events, Wani Santino Jada, the defense lawyer for Ayii, the owner of South Supreme Airline, has formally notified the Minister of Justice, Ruben Madol, of his client’s intention to sue the parliament for ‘defamation.’
In a letter, Jada, representing South Sudan Supreme Airlines Co. Ltd (the “intended applicant”), stated, “I am writing to formally notify you of instruction from South Sudan Supreme Airlines Co. Ltd (hereafter referred to as the intended applicant) intention to initiate legal action against the TNLA [Transitional National Legislative Assembly] for defamation.”
The lawyer from the Pan African Law Chambers alleged that the Parliamentary Committee for Trade and Industry had intentionally or recklessly published the summons on social media and other third-party platforms, which caused harm to the firm.
“Eng Mayen Deng’s intention of summoning our client on social media was to get public sympathy with intent to harm the reputation of South Sudan Supreme Airlines,” he told journalists during a press conference on Saturday.
Advocate Jada stated that the committee’s actions had portrayed a “bad image” of the company to its clients and caused “distress to the company’s CEO and board of directors.”
To resolve the matter amicably, the lawyer demanded that the parliament cease the defamatory actions, issue a public retraction and apology which must be widely publicized, and pay a sum of $1,500,000 as compensation for damages.
The lawyer further warned that if the matter is not resolved, they would be left with no choice but to file a case at the East African Court of Justice.
The standoff began when social media was flooded with exchanged letters between South Supreme Airline and the National Ministry of Finance, which included a letter of sovereign guarantee and cheques worth $20,064,950 and $193,248,955.9, respectively.
This prompted the Specialized Standing Committee on Trade and Industry in the National Parliament to issue a summons letter, asking Ayii to appear before the committee last week on Tuesday at 10:00 am.
The committee chairman, Eng. Mayen Deng Alier, requested that Ayii explain how his company arrived at the total value of $193,248,955.90 and provide detailed information on all the contracts.
However, Ayii disputed the summon arguing that the parliamentary committee should have summoned the Ministry of Finance instead, as the ministry owed his company the money.
Ayii also claimed that he received the summons letter in the evening, just hours before he was expected to appear at the parliament, whereas courts typically give 72 hours for a summons.
According to Ayii’s lawyer, the issue of South Sudan Supreme Airline has been ongoing since 2014 up to 2017 where a ruling has been made against the government and the ministry of finance has been ordered to settle the payment.
“The matter went to our local courts until a ruling was made against the Republic of South Sudan but my client (South Sudan Supreme Airline) was not paid.” Advocate Jada echoed.
He hinted that they have been silent all along, not that they are stupid but because they a moral duty to their country and to the people.
“So we are disappointed to see a summon from the national parliament to my client. We never wanted to respond because it will be damaging for the government but we are compelled to do that” he expressed.
Jada criticized the summon addressed to his client, ordering the chairman of South Sudan Supreme Airline to appear before the specialized committee for Trade and Industry terming it a misplaced target.
“When you read that summon the laws that they quoted, that those are internal rules and regulations. South Sudan Supreme Airline Chairman, Ayii is not a member of parliament to answer to those claims because those rules are internal, those are rules for parliament and constitutional post holders.” Jada argued.
He stressed that an ordinary citizen or a private company can’t just go to Parliament and begin answering questions or claims
“South Sudan Supreme Airline is not a gov’t entity, it’s a private company having its own shareholders they can’t just summon a private company to go and answer their claims or any queries they have in that regard.”
The lawyer emphasized that the summon issued was misplaced saying that Eng. Mayen was just shooting in the darkness “You know when it is dark you just shoot anyhow not knowing which target you’re aiming at.”
Advocate Jada, advised Mr. Mayen and the national parliament to have done due diligence other than rushing the matter.
“After seeing all those documents that they were looking at they should have summoned the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of justice and maybe the central bank to do a background check instead of just rushing directly to summon the chairman of South Sudan Supreme Airline, that’s intimidation. It’s done with intention just to tarnish the image of the company.” he lamented.
Ayii’s advocate dismissed the summon arguing they don’t have a case to answer at parliament.
“If they think that South Sudan Supreme Airline doesn’t deserve this claim, let them form an investigative committee, what is the role of the Anti-corruption Commission?”
“We shall sue the national parliament whether they like it or not. They were threatening my client that they will take legal action, let them bring it on we are waiting for that we shall strike from that angle. If they fail to take that legal action that they were talking of we shall come for them,” Jada threatened.